Redeeming Repetition
by Ifulna
Summary: Contains consensual spanking of a young adult. The sequel to "Healing Hurt." Hinata and Naruto continue to explore their relationship as Hinata risks everything to prove herself to Naruto and to herself.


**Note: Hello all, this is the sequel to my first story "Healing Hurt" (**.net/s/6449180/1/bHealing_b_bHurt_b). **It is the second story I have posted here. I know I mentioned I was working on a sequel ages ago, but finding time to finish it was ridiculously difficult! Anyway, I want to thank all those who read my first story. Thank you to all who marked my story as their favorite, or marked me as their favorite author, it means a lot. To that that left reviews…I love you…seriously, I live to read reviews positive or negative. Thank you so much. Okay, enough of my blabbering, The sequel :**

**Note 2: To those that have already read this story: it occurred to me today as I was going over this story in my mind that I utterly failed to take advantage of the imagery a certain scene toward the end provided. While I'm sure some of us shared the same welcome panorama, I went ahead and painted the picture for us all anyways. I hope you find it a nice enhancement.**

Redeeming Repetition

"Ouch! Ooo, ow..." Pale hands hastily jumped to cover her moist lips. She stretched out diagonally across the soft slate-blue comforter continuously failing in her effort to keep quiet as a young man dealt with her bottom. He had been at it for nearly an hour and a half, his hands, arms and shoulders seemingly tireless. She turned back to look at him again... She couldn't help it. He reached forward and with two fingers scooped the dark locks from her face and hooked them behind her ear, smiling gently. She returned his smile feeling her cheeks color as she met his gaze. _He has really deep eyes..._ She thought. _Nothing so cliché as oceans_ _or stars... No... his eyes seem more to encompass mine when I looked at him. Something in his gaze draws me, and then his eyes swallow me u-"_Oh!_"_

She winced in pain and whimpered quietly as his hand lightly glided across the tip of her right thigh where it had landed. _Here it comes...!_

"Mmmmmmm" She moaned contentedly.

The boy smiled sympathetically at her reaction. Every time his hand came down it was the same thing. He looked up from his work and surveyed the girl. Her head rested on the left side; she was breathing slow and softly as though she had not a care within her. _It worked...perfectly,_ He told himself; _I'm so glad she was able to let it go._ His eyes followed her hair to the smooth skin of her back. A single finger slipped into the subtle indent of her spine and snaked lightly back and forth as it drew closer to her tailbone. Her hips and thighs rested on a pillow folded in half; so his finger was forced to make a little hop to reach the raised curve of her bottom. She giggled in embarrassment broadening the smile on his face.

Hinata let her eyes close and lay still. _Oh! His...!_ was all she had time to think before a delightful shudder rippled from the exact point at the top of her bottom where his finger had slipped shallowly between her cheeks. She slowly released the breath she had gasped without even realizing it and tried unsuccessfully to keep her body from trembling as his finger traced the cleft of her bottom stopping just centimeters from more intimate regions. _He's playing with me!_ Hinata thought. _Gah! Every little touch makes my body goes crazy! I... I really can't... imagine... how... I mean... who would have thought... this? Me? Naruto? I... "Uh!" _She squeaked as she felt his finger slip out from her cheeks only to slip back in much more easily coated in a cold, slick lotion. She couldn't continue her thought until his finger had retraced its path between her cheeks in reverse and slipped out again. All four of his soft fingers slicked in lotion began massaging the middle of her left cheek in deep, circular strokes. As his body heat warmed the lotion and his fingers soothed it into her only slightly-faded red skin, she relaxed once more and let her thoughts flow freely.

_I always hoped... no more desperately wished... without even the SLIGHTEST hope... that one day... Naruto would understand how I felt about him. But... I didn't mean for it to happen like this...I...I...had no idea he could be so...firm... and yet... he knew... perfectly… what I needed. He knew when to stop... somehow... he felt when I'd managed to let go... But he spanked me SO hard until I reached that point! He really is amazing._ She drew a slow deep breath._ I didn't make it very easy on him either... all my screaming and carrying on... It hurt! God, it was so painful! But... I can't imagine... If I were him..._ her head shook imperceptibly._ I'd never have been able to do that to me. I couldn't... couldn't... definitely not... not to Naruto... even if he asked me... never. It must have killed him to hurt me so much... But... he pressed on... straight through... being the strong one. Like he always is... He didn't stop until I'd let my guilt go. _She smiled softly, opened her eyes for a moment, and closed them again releasing a slow measured breath. _But it IS gone... I can feel it. A huge weight lifted off me. I don't feel like I'm in debt to everyone... I'm not worried that Naruto might... h-hate me... I know he doesn't... because he said... he said... _

For a moment in the blissful dark of her closed eyes she felt his chest against her back again. She could feel the way his body warmed her; how he was so gentle and careful not to hurt her now that her punishment was over. His arm draped across her hip and lay flat against her stomach. She blushed deeply as she continued to recall:

_So warm... his palm and... his fingers dripped warmth across my breast... Such a light caress... it was...it was reassuring... to be touched? Do I really feel that way? Am I perv-No! Naruto didn't treat me that way! I do... I did... if I'm honest. His gentle touch of my breast reassured me... that when he said I was _She smiled broadly._ When he said I was 'beautiful,' he wasn't just saying it...but... the best part... the very best part... _Hinata stopped trying to narrate her thoughts and memories... instead she just watched hungrily the scene her mind supplied... as if worried she might never see it again... as if it might vanish from her mind if she didn't observe it closely enough to preserve every detail.

She hadn't seen anything... _No... nothing but this same darkness behind my eyes that I see now... _Naruto's lips brushed against her ear, his warm, slow, moist breath breezing gently across her cheek as his words slipped from his lips like a flute's melody. _It was like a tune he was meant to play... words he was always meant to say... born to say. Quiet!_ She scolded herself... _Or you'll miss the part where he says it!_ The seconds ticked by slowly... an eternity... as though Naruto were lost in thought... _Or... have I forgotten how he said it already?_ She wondered... but—_"I love you... Hinata."_

There it was… she held onto the sound, the feeling it built in her heart. _I haven't forgotten it… I never will. _The words Naruto whispered went from her ears directly to flash memory where it would be locked tightly within her as long as she lived.

"Oooooh."

Naruto smiled as he squeezed a little more of the lilac-scented lotion into his hands. He rubbed them together softly a few seconds warming the lotion, and then with both hands massaged it into her upper left thigh. The cream had an instantly cool feel but slowly warmed as Naruto gently rubbed it into her skin. Along with the excitement of his touch and the gentleness of his caress, it began to soothe away her pain almost instantly. _I'm so glad I kept some extra of this stuff Ero-Sennin gave me, _Naruto thought._ It sure came in handy when I was training... I was forever getting thrown back by his attacks or falling off trees when, Jiraiya-Sensei tested me in chakra stamina. Who woulda thought I'd be using it for something like this! Ha... Imagine if Ero-Sennin could see me now! He'd be SOO Jealous! _He chuckled out loud, breaking through Hinata's thoughts.

"Hmm...? What's so funny?"

"Eh? Oh... nothing... nothing... I was just thinking... maybe I should..."

He tried to stifle a laugh but couldn't manage it.

"Maybe I should write… Ero-Sennin's next installment of _Icha Icha Paradise_!"

Hinata's eyes shot open; her face burned!

"Na...Na...ruto! She froze her words stuck in her throat.

"You wouldn't... wouldn't t-tell?" She stuttered.

"No! No, of course not!"

He looked down and shook his head vehemently. _Way to go, bigmouth! Just when she was starting to feel better!_

"I was just thinking... this lotion... well I got some of it from Ero-Sennin; I've used it myself... that's how I know it works so well! And, ya know... well ya know! I was thinkin, well, Ero-Sennin... he'd be jealous of me right now... if he could see me. Cause... well you know him... He'd do ANYTHING to see a beautiful girl lying na-"

Naruto snapped his jaw shut so quickly he felt the vibration in his teeth. This couldn't be a good thing to tell her. _She's probably upset now! Thinks I used her! Oh, god, how do I get myself into these thi-EH?"_

Hinata had burst out laughing at Naruto's obvious distress.

"H—Hey! What're you laughing at!"

Hinata giggled a little longer; her face flushed.

"Nothing... just... just don't worry so much, Naruto."

"Eh? Well... I just... didn't want you to think..."

She looked up into his eyes with a brilliant smile on her face, that awkward special smile she flashed him sometimes.

"I... I trust you... com-completely... Naruto-kun..."

She took a deep breath and rushed on.

"SO... so don't worry!"

She blushed even further and hid her face in his comforter.

"Should... do you wanna stop?" He asked timidly.

"Are you...finished?" She asked a trace of disappointment evident.

"No... no I just..."

"Naruto-kun!" She scolded.

He grinned embarrassed.

"Right... sorry!"

"I still need to do... um...well..."

Hinata knew exactly what remained: the place her punishment had hurt the most... Her inner thighs still stung with a rage of heat; it was the only place the lotion...and Naruto's hands... had yet to reach. She had just recovered from blushing and again her face turned scarlet.

_Well... he's seen it once before... _she reasoned, the thought turning her cheeks the same color her other cheeks had been the night before. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and failed miserably at keeping her legs from shaking as she spread her ankles slowly. The remainder of her legs followed eventually parting her lower and then upper thighs for his ministrations.

Naruto heaved a deep sigh of relief, glad he didn't have to ask her to..._do what she just did..._ He winced at the now visible collage of crimson overlapping hand-prints painted across both her thighs: evidence of the sound spanking he'd applied right on those tender spots just hours ago. He wanted to apologize badly... but knew he shouldn't. He knew it would be an insult to Hinata; so he kept quiet and instead squeezed a generous amount of lotion into his right hand and without warming it painted it onto her thighs careful not to even touch them yet.

Hinata who'd been holding her breath waiting for the contact let out a little "Oooo!" as the cream made contact. It turned into a very soft "Mmmmm," as he drew the lotion across the reddest area of her left inner thigh. After letting it sink in for two or three minutes, Naruto's fingers gingerly caressed the lotion-covered hand-prints as he looked up to her for approval. She nodded quickly, and he very lightly massaged the lotion into her tender skin earning another contented moan from the back of her throat.

Naruto couldn't help but smile. He was proud of her; he was glad that this lotion was working as well as he'd hoped. Earlier that morning when he saw the remaining red palm prints criss-crossed over both cheeks and the burning blur of overlapping hand prints glazing the backs and sides of her thighs, he had winced in regret, but now it was done. It was what she needed, and now he was comforting her, rewarding her.

Naruto frowned for a moment as he considered his own thoughts. _Rewarding? That sounds rather like... like I'm her teacher. And... and I'm...well...rewarding her for doing what I said... For accepting her punishment like... like a good girl should. _He blushed at the thought and shook his head to clear his mind. Hinata was someone he cared very deeply for. He had helped her through a tough time. Same as she would do for him if it ever came down to it. _Yes, I did it because I love her. And now that she's come through it, she deserves this… reward._

But even as Naruto nodded emphatically, he couldn't help recalling the morning's events.

I was conscious... not quite awake though. It was early that much I was sure of... It was still dark. And it was quiet... Not as quiet as usual though. And something else was different too. The usual root of loneliness he had always felt was missing. It felt weird to be missing a hole. After all... how can you be missing something that's not actually there? _I'm not alone_. That was the first thing I thought. My eyes still closed I felt a soft warmth, another body. Hinata... her warm skin against mine. _Ahh It feels wonderful. I feel... more than normal, somehow...I feel... special... like... like I have something. Something to offer. I'm not a waste. She cares about me. She's... so soft..._

_T_here was a deeper pressure; she was closer pressing harder on his body than when they had fallen asleep the night before. His forehead tickled. A silent smile traipsed across his lips. Naruto opened his eyes to find the source: a few loose strands of her long dark hair had strayed from the rest and draped lightly across his head. The tips dangled across his forehead. It was then he noticed that he was looking at the top of her forehead. She was facing him. Hinata must have turned over in her sleep last night. Well probably_...it could have been on purpose._ Now that he noticed, her nose tickled his chest with its feather's touch.

The soft, deep pressure he felt was in contrast to his chest against her back last night. Now, two pillow-like swells pressed lightly against his stomach and lower chest. Each deep breath that filled her lungs increased the force with which she pressed against him, and each time her lips expelled the same breath the contact softened slightly. _So soft._ It was a minute before he realized it was her rounded breasts pressing against him with each rise and fall of her chest. The warmth, the peace felt too right for him to be embarrassed about it.

Naruto yawned. His senses slowly revived. His pupils dropped. Her knees were bent, her legs curled and pressed against his right thigh. His left knee was bent, and his thigh rested gently atop her stacked legs. Her right arm was tightly wrapped around his waist; the other curled tightly between their bodies. Her head rested on his right arm while his left draped over her hip and his palm rested lightly on curve of her bottom. The thought caused his fingers to bend reflexively; his hand automatically gave her right cheek a gentle squeeze.

Hinata stirred instantly; her nose softly burrowing into his chest. Naruto released the pressure on her bottom immediately as the previous night's spanking flickered across his memory. He allowed those thoughts to drift from his mind. Later, he would look at them more clearly. But now... no right now _right now I just wanna be close... be warm to...with...mmm. She's so...I wanna enjoy this feeling. This feeling I've never had... a bit longer._

"U-um… Naruto-kun!"

Hinata's tentative voice echoed across his memories awakening him from his day dream.

"Hm? Wha-?"

Naruto's eyes jumped to the violet within hers. She was focusing, holding something back; her eyes registered pain.

"What? Am I..?"

He glanced down at his hand; he was squeezing her inner thigh his fingers and thumb indenting the smooth curve. He snatched back his hand so quickly that Hinata yelped at the friction.

"Naruto… I… I'm sorr-!"

"No, no! What are you saying?" He narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"I kinda got lost…. In….er…. in my own thoughts… and wasn't paying much attention to what I…" _Oh man… I hurt her again! I've really gotta start payin mor…_

He glanced up at her again. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Um…y-you stopped talking… mid-sentence…."

"Did I?" _Gah! What did I just say!"_

She giggled and shook her head. The sound was music to his ears: sweet, light… a sparrow's song that solicited a smile.

"Anyway… er…" Naruto scratched the top of his head absentmindedly as his cheeks brightened just a bit. "…Sorry… I didn't mean to h—"

"I—I know!" she cut in in a squeaky voice much louder then she had intended and then clapped her hand over her mouth as she blushed even deeper than he.

They stared at each other for a moment in awkward silence. Tension was mounting by the second. Both of them were desperate for it to end.

"Well I—!" began Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata cut in again and then stopped dead both of them blushing again.

She looked down at the bed and then back up into his eyes. He nodded for her to go first.

"W—well…I…I just—! Um… just wanted to say—! Th…thank you—thank you, Naruto-kun!"

Her eyes darted away from his her cheeks turning rosy once more.

"You're w—"

"For spanking me! And—oh!"

Hinata's face was crimson as she realized she had cut him off again, but she was proud of herself for having made it through that word without stuttering! Naruto chuckled and smiled in such a way that Hinata felt it was okay to continue.

"Well…like I was saying. Thank you… for…um…for taking the time…I mean… well… for teaching…er…for… well… for putting yourself through…I know how much it must have hurt you to… and I just… I made it so hard by carrying on! I…well I needed… but you already knew…still! I don't know how-! And then you just!"

Hinata paused her voice frozen in her throat. Naruto was laughing… laughing at her. _I'm such a fool. He didn't… I shouldn't have said… Ugh! He probably doesn't even think… or didn't mean…_

He felt it immediately. A moment ago she'd been embarrassed, but happy, trying to explain, to thank him. _Why? She stopped dead in mid-sentence…_Her face flushed she drew a deep breath and her lips trembled. She took another deep breath and bit her lower lip on the left side. She looked…_is she going to cry? But why? _Her eyes shut tightly; she was shaking. Suddenly, it dawned on him.

He slipped over to the other side of the bed sitting beside the place her head lay, his legs dangling off the edge. He ran his fingers through her hair as he stroked it behind her ear. Her breath caught in her throat. He combed his fingers slowly through her hair. She seemed to regain control, composure at least and lifted her head as she whispered uncertainly:

"Na….na…ruto…?"

Naruto scooched closer and bent over her. His eyelids shut as his lips brushed the side of her neck. His heart beating furiously; he kissed the lower side of her throat praying silently that it was okay…. That she would understand.

"You're…you're welcome. I…if you ever need…I mean…I just wanted to… to help you." He took a deep long breath filling his lungs and steadying his voice simultaneously. "I want you to be happy, Hinata. You deserve that… you're—I think you're really special!"

He smiled and let out a relieved sigh having finally managed to get the words out. It occurred to him that he didn't blush when he said that. _Perhaps it's because it's all true. It was the right thing to say._ Hinata's lips trembled again. For one horrifying moment, Naruto thought he had made things worse! But then her lips curled into that awkward smile that always warmed him to his fingertips. She laid her head down on his lap. As he reached out tentatively and began to rub her back in slow counter-clockwise circles, he couldn't help but find a parallel in how she had shown her love for him by lying on his lap last night too.

A few hours later, Hinata stepped softly up to the base of an old oak. She breathed in deeply and exhaled sharply. A surge forward, she sprung upward; her right foot landed flat four feet up the tree's trunk. She bent her knee, paused only a half-second, and launched herself off her right leg turning one-hundred eighty degrees and landing lightly on a branch several feet higher. Her hand reached out instinctively to the trunk to solidify her landing.

"Byakugan!"

Hinata felt the veins in her face surface as she focused chakra through them. Her peripheral vision increased many times over aiding in the search. Fifty feet in all directions: barely a shadow of movement. Nothing that couldn't be chalked up to small animals going about their business. _Focus_ She summoned more chakra and more precisely controlled its flow extending her nearly three-hundred sixty degree vision another hundred fifty or so feet. _There! Finally! _She blinked quickly calculating the distance and then leaped to a tree branch eight feet south west of her position. She pushed off of that branch the moment she landed precisely controlling her momentum and allowing it to carry her effortlessly from one tree to the next. Ninjas needed to be able to move long distances quickly without wasting energy. As she moved, she had a quick flash of Iruka's instructions back at the academy. _The trick isn't the quick movement… it's making each jump quiet!_ She thought as she landed in a crouch on a maple branch and sprinted its length only to soar from its height and catch her toes and hands on a thick ivy spiraling around yet another higher tree.

Another careful but speedy jump placed her squarely on the branch she had been aiming for within a towering oak with a canopy that stretched seemingly miles. From here, Hinata crept to the middle of the branch and looked around for her target. Moments ago they had been quietly slipping through this area. Four of them. But now they were gone without a trace.

"Byakugan." She whispered forcing a tighter control on her chakra.

Her vision extended, but after over thirty-five seconds of careful focus, she still hadn't located the men she had seen only a minute ago. She extended her vision further but still found nothing. _Oh, no! I've lost them! _She let out a silent frustrated sigh. She had been trying to catch up to them for hours. Locating them hadn't taken all that long, but they had an uncanny ability to melt into the shadows whenever she got close forcing her to track them all over again. _Wait, relax… "Byakugan is not the only sense you have. Be wary of relying completely on it… that is a habit far more dangerous than not using it at all."_ Her father had reminded her many times.

Hinata closed her eyes simultaneously releasing the chakra flow through her optic nerves. Her diminished optical intake allowed her other senses to flourish. She could smell the crisp freshness of the leaves around her. The sound of swallows echoed several yards away. She felt a slight give in the branch on which she stood and immediately felt adrenaline surge through her veins. She was airborne so quickly she barely remembered pushing off with her feet before she let a kunai fly and finished the backward flip landing on a lower branch. The kunai entered the man's body with a dull thud as its tip glanced off bone. Another kunai slipped neatly between his ribs before he had a chance to react to the first.

_Good thing I didn't have Byakugan active or I never would have felt his weight hit the branch. This tree is so sturdy it barely moved at all!_ Her eyes flicked up: nothing, to the left—A metallic clang echoed through the woods; Hinata just barely managed to intercept two thrown shurikan with her kunai. She instinctively reached into the pouch just below her right hip and snatched a fourth kunai and whipped it at her attacker. He dodged easily a soft whump issuing from the tree branch on contact. The attached exploding tag crackled momentarily then erupted in flame. Caught by surprise, the enemy ninja barely escaped dropping on one knee to lighten the impact as he dove to the grass below.

_Perfect! _Hinata thought as she bounded to the branch below her and then dropped to the ground as well. _I'm not bad with a kunai, but up close and personal is my specialty!_ As she settled into her fighting stance both palms raised her right drawn back ready to strike, she noticed her enemy's dark skin discernable through the smoldering tear in the back of his otherwise pine-needle-colored uniform. _Guess he only narrowly escaped that one! Let's do this before he can recover!_ She stepped forward judging the distance between them and then leaped forward landing a yard short of her opponent. Quickly stepping to his right, her left hand whistled through the air missing his neck by millimeters as he eluded the attack. She followed up with a right palm to the throat which he knocked aside and countered with a quick jab. Hinata side-stepped and snatched his forearm with her left hand and pulled him off-balance toward her increasing the force of her elbow as she slammed it into his temple. For the moment, he was stunned, Hinata released his arm and machine-gunned her right and then left palm into his chest forcing chakra into his body. The shinobi's eyes widened as he staggered backward.

He choked and spit shockingly scarlet globules. He hastily reached behind him and pulled a kunai, but, as he was about to throw it, pain…unrelenting, slicing pain ripped through his chest forcing him to his knees. He couldn't breathe. Hinata watched him futilely gasp for air. For a moment, she felt sorry for the man as he fell forward onto his hands. He vomited a mixture that contained an unmistakable crimson hue. Hinata turned toward the body of her first victim. She needn't worry about the second. As she searched the body, she listened until she heard what she'd been waiting for: the thud of a falling body… and silence. Her aim had been true. Her right palm has forced such a high concentration of chakra into his heart that it had burst; her left had lacerated his lungs. In seconds, he'd frozen in shock, and mere moments ended his life in vicious pain.

Hinata dropped to one knee and ripped open the bag strapped to her first victim's hip. She broke the seal on the first scroll she saw. _No, _and tossed it aside. _Next._ She unrolled another. _No._ That one dropped to the ground as well. Just as she drove her hand into the bag again a strange flow in the air current caught her attention an instant before she heard the whistle of spinning steel. Hinata sprang backward flipping over onto her hands and pushed off with her palms landing on the balls of her feet a few yards away. As her knees straightened her senses alive and desperate for the source of the attack, a rustle almost silent, caught her straining ears.

Hinata pivoted toward the sound, snatching another kunai from her leg pouch with her index finger; she flicked it around and caught the length of the handle solidly in her grip the blade pointing down. Three shurikan were inches away. She quickly palmed the flat side of her blade to steady it. The middle star clanged off the tip of her kunai, a metallic ring echoing in the air. The shurikan to the right whistled passed her as she jerked her hip to the side. A razored point of the star sliced through her leg strap, cutting her tool-pouch from her leg and spilling her remaining kunai to the forest floor. _There's no time to retrieve it. _She transferred her weight to her left foot and spun out of the way of the last star and right into the path of an arcing blade.

The infinitesimal nano-second between her sensing the blade and it's ripping through her throat seemed to last hours. _No! It's over! How could I not have sensed him?_ In desperation, she threw all her weight into following her previous dodge right toward the blade instinctively knowing that stopping her momentum and retreating from the blade would take much too long. Her body arced toward her attacker as the short sword whistled through the collar of her jacket and tore a clean slit at the edge of her neck just barely avoiding a lethal injury. Flowing with her momentum, Hinata dove into her attacker knocking him to the ground with her shoulder landing atop him. Her kunai flashed in the sun as it raced for his heart. His gloved hand lifted his sword to intercept, but its size slowed the attempt. Her kunai glanced off the edge of his sword rather than being deflected by it and plunged directly through his lung.

He gasped, blood spraying from his lips as he sputtered his last breath. That moment of panicked horror was all, Hinata needed. She rolled sideways off of her victim coiled her arm above his elbow and with her right hand wrenched it down snapping the joint almost effortlessly. A cry of agony rose in the enemy ninja's throat, but was cut short as Hinata tore the short sword from his loose fingers and leaning over his heaving chest stabbed it with desperate strength into his throat, through it pinning his neck to the ground. Her Byakugan seemed to activate of its own accord. There was another…behind her sprinting toward her. Hinata quickly plunged her hand into the hip pouch of the dispatched enemy beneath her. Her fingers closed around a stack of metal objects with many razor-sharp points. She slipped her fingers around two of them and with a heart-pounding cry dove off to the left spinning in mid-air she whipped the shurikan at her bewildered opponent. The first star zipped cleanly through his shoulder, the second found its mark embedding deeply in his jugular. A deathly gasp echoed from his lips as his momentum sent him sprawling right where she had been lying a second before landing hard on his dead team-mate.

Her heart pounded in her chest, she opened her mouth wide to gasp in a breath filling her ragged lungs. She jumped back when his throat sprayed blood. The thought of it touching her was enough to make her gag.

Her senses in overdrive, her Byakugan still active, Hinata tensed for any sign of a fifth attacker. It was several paralyzing minutes before she decided she was safe. She dropped to her hands and knees trying to calm her heart and slow her breathing. It occurred to her to check the dead ninja for a water-bottle., but the thought of searching the gory remains of her victims was more than she could bear. _The bag!_ Hinata rushed to the only travel bag she had seen among the four ninja, the same she had been looking through before. The bag was empty. Hinata's eyes narrowed. _Why? They were supposed to have it!_ She frantically searched the other bodies but found nothing.

Frustrated, she searched the first body again finding no other hidden pouches or scrolls. Angry now, she tossed the empty bag aside and stood to her feet. Just as she crouched prepared to spring to the trees, the sunlight blazed over the tattered bag. The corner of her eye barely caught an odd-shaped brown line on the inside of the bag's mouth. She turned and picked up the bag holding it in the sunlight to better view it. It was a brushstroke. More appeared as she watched. The sun's rays revealed them. The lines crossed and linked and in moments formed the symbols of language. Hinata's eyes widened: the secret document... was the bag itself! _Brilliant! _She thought. _And I nearly missed it too…_

She'd succeeded though. _Tsunade will be so happy! I've made up for failing the last mission with Naruto!_ She smiled happily; a sense of pride and accomplishment rising through her chest. She stowed the bag in her kunai pouch and returned to Konoha in record time.

As she slipped passed the gates, Hinata couldn't help but feel the sun was shining brighter today than usual. The grass seemed greener; the air smelled fresher. Somehow, life just looked better when you weren't in debt to anyone. She smiled at the villagers as she made her way toward the hokage mansion fantasizing about Naruto's praise for her accomplishment. _Ohhhh! Ah-Hinata! I KNEW you could do it! You're awesome! You did an amazing jo_-"OW!"

Without the slightest idea how, Hinata found herself soaring backward horizontally. She frantically threw her hands out and just barely managed to break her fall. Her feet slammed hard into the ground; lastly her bottom crashed to the street forcing a yelp from her lips as the impact drove tiny electrical shots up her nearly-healed rear end. Dazed, from the sudden, unexpected fall, Hinata had no time to dodge the foot heading directly toward her chin. Her hands instinctively flew to her face as she whipped her head away from the collision just in time to miss the runner's faltering attempt at changing his path end in a spectacular trip. A green flash signified a falling body and splintering wood signaled the stop of head-long crash.

Her heart fluttering, Hinata quickly sucked in four breaths and took a deep one the fifth time before pulling her feet under herself and trying to stand. Before she made it even half-way up, a strong hand grasped her upper arm and wrenched her (none too gently) from the ground to her feet. As her hair whipped around her face, Hinata struggled to maintain her balance and just barely found her equilibrium when a flash of white blinded her. She shook her head trying to clear the confusion while her right hand shielded her eyes.

"Ah! Hinata! My sincerest apologies! You see, I get so caught up in my daily training, I sometimes completely lose track of everyone else!"

Hinata recognized the voice and with a slightly exasperated sigh responded:

"Th-th-that's alright…"

"Oh, thank you! You are too kind! But ah yes the spring of youth is quick to rebound from ANY fall!

"Er…y..yes…I…"

"Of course, hot-blooded youth must not be wasted! It flows through your veins; it overwhelms the very soul! Ah, Hinata you truly are a symbol of youth's passion and forgiveness!

Another blinding flash of light brought tears to Hinata's eyes. She nearly stumbled as she turned away from the glaring sunlight reflecting off of Guy-sensei's perfectly white teeth.

"Ugh… than-thank you, Guy-sensei."

He grinned pumping his fist,

"Perhaps, you'd like to join me in 300 laps around Konoha and then 300 more running backwards?"

Hinata didn't feel the slightest desire to join him,

"Um… well… I need to-to report to Tsunade…"

"Of course, of COURSE! WHAT was I thinking?"

"Er…well…um it's…it's no problem… you weren't hurt were you? In that fall?"

He pumped his other fist and flashed his pearly whites again.

"No, no, the hot-blood of youth still keeps me strong! I'll be on my way then; can't stop training too long or youth's passion will dessert me!"

And with that, Guy-sensei tore off down the street once again, nearly plowing through an old man carrying a basket of rice to the market. Hinata shook her head wondering if he would ever change. _NOT likely…_

She turned, and was so startled at nearly walking into some girl that she nearly fell as she jumped back. Hinata pulled her knees in tightly as she rotated once backward and landed cleanly on her feet.

"Wow!"

Hinata glanced up from her shock that she'd pulled that backflip off without looking like a complete novice. Sakura was standing not more than six feet away eyes wide, lips slightly parted, hands up still ready to deflect the collision she had been expecting. Hinata's lips curled into an apologetic smile pink seeming to flow from either end to color her cheeks. It suddenly seemed to dawn on Sakura that her mouth was hanging open; she quickly shut it.

"That was pretty slick!" she managed surprise still evident within the sparkling green in her sun-reflected eyes.

Sakura allowed her hands to drop to her side and shook her head as if to clear the remaining paralysis from the shock. Hinata simply blushed further and nodded muttering something that sounded like, "Thanks."

"So… anyways, I saw Guy-sensei's head-on collision…You alright?"

Hinata caught Sakura's eyes quickly traveling up and down her probably checking for injuries. Sakura's glance flicked to Hinata's eyes and then to her chest and back to her eyes before red blossomed in her cheeks as she realized Hinata had caught her prolonged scrutiny of her chest. It wasn't that Sakura was into girls, but she could hardly fail to notice that Hinata's jacket normally zipped all the way was open, and even more surprising, the black shirt she wore underneath was pulled down so that the criss-cross netting normally at her throat dipped below her collar-bone revealing a hint of cleavage before tightly hugging her breasts and draping smoothly across her stomach.

Hinata's smile deepened as her cheeks turned a shade darker. _Wait… this is what I wanted… to be noti—Isn't it? Yes! To be noticed! Though… I didn't really have Sakura in mind._ Her smile faded on one side into a smirk, but the genuine smile still showed in her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. Um… y-yes. I'm just…just fine."

"Thank you, though!" she quickly added as an afterthought.

"Glad to hear it." Sakura recovered. "It looked like a pretty serious tumble." She shook her head. "That guy… and he's supposed to be a teacher! He never watches where he's going!"

Hinata nodded and rolled her eyes in agreement.

"Well, anyways, I just thought I'd make sure you were okay, I've gotta head to the training ground. There's some medicinal herbs that for some reason won't grow anywhere else, and Shizune is waiting for me. You're sure you're alright?"

"Right." Hinata nodded. "W-well thanks. But I'm okay, r-really!" She reached down and smoothed her shirt brushing dust from it and her pants.

"Okay."

Sakura turned toward the intersecting path she was originally on and took two steps before turning and pausing. Her eyes caught the flash of violet in Hinata's eyes.

"You look good!"

Without waiting for a response the pink-haired Kunoichi broke into a run toward the training field.

_I didn't blush_. Hinata thought inwardly surprised. It was the first compliment she had ever received since she'd… "Grown up." _Oh, sure, as a kid, my family said 'Oh, look how cute she is! She'll be pretty someday.' But…_ she thought as she finally continued on her way to see Tsunade, _Since I started at the academy… all anybody ever noticed was that I was no good at taijutsu…_ She kicked a rock on the street much harder than she had intended to. It flew into the air careening off ceramic bowl nearly spilling the ramen from a customer's hands.

"Sorry!" Hinata called, having been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized she was passing Ichiraku's. The man glared at her but nodded and turned back to the counter.

_Ya…that's just like me… that's the reason why. I was always so clumsy! I tried so hard because that was all dad ever seemed to care about… passing on his techniques… because I'm the heir. _She saw another rock and glanced both ways, but decided not to kick it last second. _And though I could remember all the combos and techniques, I had no decision-making skills; so when it came to countering…when I finally chose one… Hanabi was always faster… She made me look like a joke. Not that it was her fault… _Hinata's eyebrows lowered. She paused a moment.

"What am I doing?" She asked out loud.

_I get a compliment and the first thing I do is shoot myself down? No!_

"I won't do it! Not anymore!" she scolded herself resolutely.

_I promised myself I wouldn't. Naruto said he believed in me back then. He believes in me even now! Even though I was no good at taijutsu, I always hoped someone would think I was pretty. _She smiled. _Sakura said I looked good. _Even though she felt slightly guilty, the left side of her lip curled into a smirk. _She was jealous! _It felt good to have someone be jealous of her.

So many new feelings had just recently come to her heart. _This is another one. All thanks to… yep, thanks to Naruto. He said…he said _she licked her lips as if she were going to say it out loud while preparing herself for how good it would feel to dwell on what he had said. _He said I "You're beautiful, Hinata." Beautiful! _Still putting one foot in front of the other she turned into the walkway beneath the lookout towers leading to the Hokage mansion. _She had sincerely prayed that one day someone would find her 'pretty,' 'good-looking,' even 'decent' woulda been okay. But Naruto… he said "Beautiful!" The thought warmed her. The sun seemed to focus on her, and it warmed her too all the way to her toes. _

As she opened the door and started up the spiral staircase, she thought _I'll show him I'm useful too! I can be helpful to him! Maybe someday… he'd…let me…choose me even! To go on a mission with him. _She stopped outside the Hokage's office. The idea was both exhilarating and terrifying. She knocked on the red, wooden door and waited anxiously. Hinata would have loved the chance to aid Naruto, on the other hand; if she failed to properly watch his back and he were hurt…_I'd never forgive myself._

There was no answer for several minutes. Hinata shifted her weight restlessly from one foot to the other and back. Just as she was about to knock again, the door flung open. Hinata stepped back instinctively as her eyes darted to the tall blonde woman. Tsunade stared down at the violet-eyed Hyuga.

Hinata looked up into the golden eyes blazing with intensity. She suddenly felt as though she'd done something wrong and wished she were anywhere else!

"Hinata? Hello? Are you coming in?"

Hinata just stared a moment. _Her eyes are so intimidating! Not just her eyes… it's her whole bearing… With one look she can make you quail in fear that you've done something to mkde her angry!_

"Anybody there?" Tsunade's sarcastic voice boomed snapping Hinata from her thoughts.

"What?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes, smacked her forehead, and pushed the door open all the way so Hinata could slip passed her.

"Hinata… come in. Please."

Hinata noticed the twinge of annoyance in Tsunade's voice and quickly complied.

_What is it that makes people fall asleep right in front of this door so often? _"Hm." _Not just in front of the door, in front of my desk too. Maybe I should burn some incense to help people focus… _She flicked the door lightly causing it to slam so loudly that Hinata jumped and whipped her head around toward the sound. _Hm…that happens a lot too… people jumping in here._

"How is it that people are so tired they fall asleep one minute and then so wired they're bouncing off the walls in here the next?"

"Wh—what?" Hinata sputtered.

_Sleeping again…_ Tsunade shook her again.

"Never mind."

She made her way around her desk and dropped wearily into the chair behind it.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Hinata took a deep breath, "Well—"

"Oh! I remember." Tsunade snapped her fingers and pointed at HInata with her index finger. "You wanted to be on the team that recovered the secret document right?" She nodded absently. "I've been working on a team…annnd I think you'll be happy with the results."

Hinata bit her lip and fidgeted with the zipper on her coat anxiously.

"Well… yes…"

"I knew it!" Tsunade nodded approvingly; her smile sparkling in her eyes. "You're always so quick to try to prove yourself. I knew you'd be back before long. Though, I am surprised, it's only been a few hours since you last asked, and Inoichi only got the location from our captive this morning."

"Oh…well… after the last missio—" Hinata started meekly.

"Hinata!" Tsunade cut in sharply. Her eyes grew stern. Effortlessly, her demeanor took on that of a mother. "I told you, there was no failure on your part in that mission."

Her tone softened as did her eyes. "You need to let it go…"

Hinata took a deep breath and nodded. _She still doesn't know they all covered for me. _For just a moment the despair of her failure washed over her, but she pushed it back before she had to picture Naruto's disappointed gaze.

"Well…y—you see. I…" She again tried to begin.

"There's no need to explain." Tsunade cut in again kindly. "I never believed them when they said it wasn't my fault either…"

Tsunade smiled at the memory and how someone like Hinata always so timid could have something in common with her.

Hinata, getting a little flustered now, cut in quickly, "Yeah, th—that's how I feel too! So—"

"So at least listen when I tell you, your teammates don't believe that."

Hinata was trying very hard to keep the agitation out of her voice, each moment she didn't confess seemed worse than the last. She had to get it out now, besides it would put Tsunade's mind at ease. _After all, now I HAVE proven myself._ She thought happily.

"Um-um, Tsunade-sama!" She determined to get in what she wanted to say this time before, Tsunade interrupted.

Tsunade paused a moment, inquiry clear in her eyes.

"I—uh—I…um…" she added quickly losing her nerve. She thought of Naruto and her confidence returned. "There's…there's no need for you to…to worry about that. Any-anymore."

Tsunade stared. "…Huh?"

"Y—you see…" Annoyed with herself now she blurted it all out at once: "I already c-completed that mission! It's done! Um... yes, Look!"

She held up the empty bag she had taken from her targets in the woods. Tsunade stared at the bag for a moment wondering what she was supposed to make of it when her eyes finally spotted the patch near the bottom. Inked in the patch were three parallel wavy lines with a shurikan in the middle. The upper and lower points of the star connected with the upper and lower lines and middle line appeared to be weaved through the shurikan's center curling back on itself. It was the unmistakable symbol of the Shadow ninja.

The Hokage's eyes widened in surprise. She leaned forward and stared at the bag completely unable to speak. Hinata smiled proudly holding her prize. The endless hours of training, the hours of tracking and stealth, the terror of the life or death fight—it was all worth it to see the astonishment on her leader's face.

Tsunade blinked once, twice, on the third blink she drew a deep breath and snatched the bag from Hinata's outstretched hand.

"You did WHAT?" Tsunade nearly shouted.

_She found her voice…_ Hinata thought.

"I—I knew that it would take a while to—to put a team together. And um…well… time is everything to a ninja—they always say that…right?"

Tsunade stared at the Hyuga's proud smile in disbelief. Hinata's stance was one of confidence; her eyes sparkled with the joy and excitement of success. Tsunade was flabbergasted.

"You…" She almost whispered and then unable to restrain her tone "You went out there…. by yourself?"

Hinata faltered, her smile evaporated, her stance turned defensive. Something was wrong. Tsunade's tone was all wrong. The look she was wearing should have been pride, happiness… she looked angry.

"I…I knew I could manage…if I just... if I believed in myself… and in my abil—"

"Are you insane!" Tsunade broke through her attempt to explain.

"But…"

Tsunade's eyes burned angrily.

"You could have been killed!" She leaned over her desk and pointed at Hinata's chest. "You had no idea how many shinobi you would be up against, no exact location of the document, no back up…

Hinata slumped. She had so anticipated praise for her effort, for her narrow escape, for her success. _This is all wrong…_

_ "_But I succeeded!" She retorted a little angrily. "I accomplished the mission!" Her eyebrows rose in defiance. She balled her fists at her sides.

Tsunade's eyes flashed. "You accomplished nothing." She said quietly. "I authorized no mission. I authorized no team. I gave no permission to you to do anything but wait until I had a team picked." She glared angrily at Hinata but said nothing. She folded her hands on her desk. It was a cruel thing to say, to do…she knew, but if she didn't Hinata would use that as her defense. Tsunade closed her eyes very aware of how Hinata would take the condemnation.

Hinata froze. Tsunade's words tore the breath from her lungs. _"You accomplished nothing!" "Nothing." "NO-thing" "NOTHING" the Hokage's voice screamed in her mind over and over. _

Her lips opened and closed as though she were trying to speak, but no words came. Her hands unclenched.

"Noth…noth…nothing…" she squeaked.

Hinata's eyes locked onto Tsunade's in utter shock, utter refusal to believe she had heard those words. _It has to be a mistake. It has to. She's always, always encouraging me to strike out, to do something new, to believe in myself… and it's nothing? The first time I try it… nothing?_

"No…" she whispered in a very small voice.

She shook her head. "_No._" repeated in her mind over and over.

Tsunade didn't give an inch. She sat there, she said nothing. She completely refused to acknowledge what Hinata had done. Hinata's vision blurred but with desperate will power she strove to hold back her tears and her dignity.

"Hinata…I'm very disappointed in what you've done."

The words were soft and steady, but they fell with the weight of a mountain on Hinata's shoulders. Hinata felt her eyes pool with saline. Her lips trembled, her hands were shaking; her strength left her. She felt as if she were utterly worthless in her Hokage's eyes.

She felt a drop fall from her chin, and a stream of drops trickling down the first's trail, though she hadn't felt herself release the first tear. She closed her eyes backing against the wall to support her weight.

Tsunade looked up at her. Her eyes weren't blazing anymore. They held regret. She shook her head and turned away.

Hinata struggled to keep her gaze level, to keep her eyes on Tsunade's. Her last vestige of dignity would be to hear whatever lecture, whatever punishment Tsunade would give her without looking away. _Minutes have passed… Why hasn't she said anything? Why won't she look at me? _Sudden realization flashed; she choked on her understanding. _She doesn't think I can handle the lecture… she's afraid to say anything more without completely…completely setting me back… She doesn't have confidence in my ability as a ninja… not even in my ability to endure a lecture!_ She sniffled. She pushed off the wall and set her feet apart. She glared at Tsunade for one moment. She struggled within herself. She squeezed her fists. She worked up all her nerve and forced herself to focus her strength. She took a deep breath, and halted the flow of tears. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She tried again, but only sniffled. _I can't even do this…_ Hinata squeezed her eyes shut, then forced them open, looked up at Tsunade, and summoning all her courage attempted to shout:

"I'm sorry! I only wanted to help. I…"

She realized she was barely whispering. Tsunade's eyes were riveted to hers. Hinata couldn't take the piercing disappointment in those eyes for another moment. She turned to the door and opened it.

"Hinata!" Tsunade called.

But Hinata had already fled to the hallway. She could barely see. She found strength in her shame to run… to run as fast as she could down the stairs away from those terrible eyes. "_Accomplished nothing, nothing, nothing." _Hinata's sandal caught on the edge of a stair and only by turning and crashing full force into the wall did she prevent herself from diving down the stairs. She stumbled out the main doors and into the street.

She desperately wanted to go somewhere where she could lament in peace. She couldn't go home… No, she would be shunned for her behavior or else completely ignored, but that wouldn't make it private. It was only the afternoon there was nowhere out in the village that would be deserted this time of day.

"Hey! Hinata!" a cheerful voice called.

She couldn't see him, but it was definitely Choji. The rustle of a bag and the constant crunch, crunch of potato chips were a sure calling card. She ducked inside the first open door she saw. The last thing she wanted was to talk to anyone.

She was in the ninja-tool store she noticed when she quickly scanned the shelves.

"Oh, Hinata! Back already? How did those Kunai you bought hold up?"

Hinata tried to answer but her voice was so choked she knew it would squeak if she tried so instead she kept her face turned away and nodded vigorously.

"Ah, good, right? We only sell the good stuff! That's right!"

Hinata nodded again and pretended to count her money as she picked up something random from the shelf and a minute later replaced whatever the item was. She turned to the shop keeper quickly so her long dark hair would woosh over her face as she nodded, bowed slightly and then darted from the shop.

There was only one place she could go… He probably would be training. She needed some alone time. Talking to anybody was a bad idea. As she jogged, "_Nothing…I didn't authorize…" _She made her way to the bottom steps and tripped up the stairs. She raised a trembling hand and knocked, hoping nobody would be there, and she could just sit on his bed alone and think. He wouldn't mind if she did that. He would understand.

Hinata reached for the door handle, but the door opened. In the doorway, stood a tall, blonde ninja in orange and black. Having hoped nobody would be home, silence reigned for a minute as her eyes slowly floated up to his. The deep blue irises questioned her. She stood there, mute, paralyzed. _He's home. No! Now what? Ugh, where do I…what do I… what will he…I have to go…now. I—"I'm so disappointed." _She turned to run but found herself snatched up.

Looking through the doorway, Naruto wondered what Hinata was doing at his house. She had told him she had a mission and would be away most of the day with Shino and Kiba. His desire to see her; however, far outweighed any curiosity. He was about to ask when her eyes darted up to his. In that moment her violet eyes flashed a violent desperation, a horrible sadness, a shame he thought he'd seen the last of. Something was terribly wrong. Her eyes glanced right. _She's going to leave. I can't let her go!_

As she turned to go, he stepped into her way and wrapped his arms around her. She pushed away, she fought him, but he wouldn't let her escape. Both her palms shot out with a force made powerful by her desperation. Naruto choked as he tried to breath, but the air had been crushed out of his lungs. _I won't let go. I won't give up_._ I won't let her face this alone._ She tried to wriggle free but he held her fast. She reached up to push him away again, when she noticed his chest heaving with the effort of trying to breathe.

Shock, horror, appeared in her violet eyes. She tensed, frozen as if she expected him to slap her. She was trembling he could feel her shaking in his grip.

With the last of the air in his lungs he forced out: "Hinata…" He gasped. "Stop!"

The single command halted her escape attempts. She stopped shaking though her eyes clearly expressed the agonizing tornado of emotions bottled inside her. Naruto leaned forward lifted his right hand to the back of her neck lightly curling his fingers and drew her face to his chest. She didn't resist. She didn't look to have the strength even if she'd wanted to. His left arm circled her waist; his palm rested on her hip. The moment her face reached his chest he managed to suck in a breath at long last. Sweet oxygen, he'd forgotten it at the tormented look in her violet eyes.

His first breath: "I'm here. Please…stay."

Hinata's resistance crumbled. Lying against his chest with his arms around her, just holding her. Not saying anything._ He didn't force me to explain. He…he didn't tell me to go. _Her tears burst forth, the dam exploding; the torrents rushing free and fast. _He didn't let me go. Again…he knew. Knew what I needed more than I did. How does he always know?_ Her tears held in for so long flooded down quickly drenching Naruto's shirt. Her arms flew around him anguish strengthening her grasp so tightly after having the wind knocked out of him it hurt.

For a several minutes, he didn't say anything at all. He simply held her and let her cry. _She needs to let some of this out. Whatever is on her mind; she's been holding it in too long already!_ Hinata did just that; she let herself sink into his grasp and simply cried out her anger and her frustration, her shame, her fear that she hadn't changed at all. All together it gushed out in a tsunami of doubt and fear.

When she had exhausted herself with weeping, he loosened his hold around her shoulder and slowly began to rub her back in wide clock-wise circles. Naruto felt her trembling but this time it was her lower body, _her legs_ he quickly thought, and reaching down hooked his right arm under her knees while holding her close still with his left, he carried her toward his bed just before her legs gave out. Naruto turned and sat on the edge of the bed and scooched backward until his back pressed against the wall. He cradled Hinata in his arms holding her close resting her body on his lap just being there for her.

Hinata slowly calmed, her breathing slowed, her crying turned to the occasional choking sob. Naruto quietly combed his fingers through her hair catching a stray lock and tucking it behind her ear. The back of his fingers tenderly stroked her cheek and gently trailed down the side of her neck. His soothing touch relaxed and quieted her. _I wonder what upset her so much? It'll have to wait whatever it is; I don't think she's going to last much—_ A tender smile formed on Naruto's lips as he recognized the slow and steady sound of her breathing. Her chest rose and fell in sync. _She must be exhausted from that mission… plus whatever's bothering her…_She had literally cried herself to sleep in his arms.

He held her for a few minutes longer, enjoying the moment, until despite his unwillingness to ruin it his arms and back were beginning to ache from holding all of her weight for so long. Making a supreme effort to be gentle, he slipped forward to the edge of the bed, planted both feet on the floor and slowly bending his knees and then straightening stood with her in his arms. He turned back to the bed and slowly, oh so slowly, set her down on his bed on her right side and then climbed in behind her. He gently snuggled up to her back molding his legs to hers and draped his left arm behind her shoulder over her forearm and laced his fingers with hers against her thigh. He smiled softly hoping he could help her through whatever was bothering her when she awoke. For now, she would hopefully sleep off some of that stress. He yawned suddenly tired and comfortable cuddling with her. Naruto rested his head against his curled right arm and let the steady cadence of her breathing lull him to sleep alongside her.

Gentle warmth permeated from her center. A strong arm draped across her ribs. Her fingers were laced with his; his hand gently closed over hers holding them both against her stomach. There was a protective pressure against her back. With her free hand, she coaxed a few errant strands of long dark hair from her face. Her lips parted, and she yawned. For a moment, she pretended she wasn't awake. If she just laid there a moment she would sink back into sleep. _Darn it… I just admitted I'm not asleep. _She drew a breath and blew it out in a puff of dramatic annoyance and scowled._ Oh wait… there's nobody to see this performance…_ Hinata's lips curled into a smile as she tried to stifle a giggle and ended up yawning again instead.

She wondered how long she had been asleep. Probably a couple of hours. Her body was refreshed, but she still felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach. She did her best to banish those thoughts while instead focusing on the warm touch of Naruto enveloping her. Hinata shifted slightly; her right leg was filled with tiny pin pricks the precursor to a sleeping limb. The slight movement jostled Naruto and he took a deep breath and tilted his head down. Hinata tried her best to keep quiet; each of his warm moist breaths was tickling the back of her neck. His fingers straightened slipping from her hand as gravity took over carrying his palm in a slow drag to her hip; his fingers curled instinctively around her soft thigh squeezing lightly as he breathed in and in releasing laid flat.

Hinata closed her eyes and sighed contentedly the sound barely escaping her lips from the back of her throat. _If only I could stay like this forever. _She thought wistfully. _This moment… it's so perfect. I feel so… warm. Protected. Yes, I feel like I'm okay. Nothing can hurt me with Naruto's arms around me. _She felt a little poke at her tummy. It made her jump slightly. The fingertip poked her ribs twice softly then playfully bounced onto her thigh, bounded onto her stomach, bunny hopped to the top of her cleavage sinking between her breasts no more than a half inch and parked right there. Hinata's eyebrows narrowed. _Hey! He's not asleep!_ When she bent her head to look at his finger it jumped up, lightly landed on the tip of her nose, and spring-boarded up above her head.

He chuckled quietly as he softly caressed her forehead his fingers combing through her soft, dark hair curving behind her head and turning over so the back of his first two fingers could brush her cheek.

"Hey," She whispered, "You're supposed to be asleep!" She tried to sound indignant, but couldn't hold back a light giggle.

"Am I?" He asked feigning innocence.

"Yes!" She retorted with a huff that was so melodramatic that Naruto laughed softly.

His laugh was infectious; it immediately summoned her grin before she giggled along with him. Naruto raised both his arms above his head and stretched them out as far as they would go with a strained grunt. He huffed and brought them down slowly and then all at once burrowing his right arm under her ribs and throwing his left around her stomach, he wrenched her up from the bed and into his lap as he hugged her so tightly she couldn't breathe.

"If you're trying to pop me, you're doing a good job!" she squeaked.

Naruto laughed and loosened his grip; she turned and gently slipped her arms around his shoulders and burrowed her face into his chest. _I feel so… free… like I was in prison and suddenly the bars collapsed around me. _She giggled to herself. _I feel like…I can, I mean… I don't have to hold back… I can just... say or…do anything I want... around Naruto. He won't make fun of me._ She smiled and lifted her face from his chest. Her eyes lifted to the cerulean in his. They sucked her in. She felt like her spirit was flying up to meet his eyes as if his eyes demanded it. Her soul felt bare to his gaze, but the strangest thing was… _It doesn't bother me. _

"It feels….right…" she whispered.

Naruto reached over her arm still wrapped around him and stroked her cheek with his palm. His index finger circled around her ear; he smiled his confident smile seemingly content just to look into her eyes. After a moment, he let his hand drift behind her neck. Hinata leaned forward guided by the gentle grip of his hand. One inch, two inches, two and a half, he leaned down toward her intoxicated by her scent, by the softness of her skin, drawn by the rightness of it all.

She could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek. Sparks crackled in the air between them. His eyes closed, his lips tenderly brushed against hers. Her heart fluttered so fast she feared _He must be able to hear it! _She held her breath. The tip of his nose touched hers as he gingerly placed a feather-light kiss on her lips. Electricity exploded through her at the contact of her lips warming her to her bones. Her body froze in his embrace her eyes locked on his closed lids. Paralyzed she trembled slightly in his arms. His lips drew away. _No! She silently pleaded. Did I d-do something…wr-wrong… Was I bad a-at it? Oh, no, He's probably kissed girls before! I don't have ANY experience! What do I do to make it right?_

Naruto's eyelids fluttered open half a second. The charge he'd received when his lips made contact with hers was like lightning. He could feel it in his blood as it shot through his body guided by adrenaline. Before she could take a breath, before she could say anything, he cocked his head slightly to the right and pressed his lips against hers again, more forcefully this time, but still gentle.

Caught by surprise, Hinata attempted to suck in a breath through her mouth and found her lips sealed with his. The exquisite pressure of his lips swooped through Hinata exploding with a boiling heat within her chest. Each heart-pounding second of his lips holding hers, his breaths against her cheek made her stomach drop, and at the same time made her feel like she was floating.

Her insecurities forgotten among the sensations, Hinata dropped her right hand down Naruto's back. She leaned slightly forward increasing the pressure between them. She felt his hand shaking on her neck as it slipped to her shoulder. _He's a little…scared? Also? Maybe?_

Naruto could feel his hands shaking. _I really hope this okay…I hope… I'm doing it right. Eh, how hard can it be? But... what if she isn't winging it like me! I'll just have to play it by ear._ He thought a little desperately. He let his lips slip from hers, but instantly felt Hinata's hand on his back, her fingers curled pressing deeply into his lower back pulling him, willing him back to her. He tightened his arms around her and as he sucked in a breath she covered his lips with hers. Experience didn't matter. Each trusted the other completely; each simply gave in to the emotions coursing through them and allowed their instincts to take over. Naruto released her lips and immediately came back for more opening his lips ever-so slightly to see if she would too. For a moment she seemed confused, but then her blissfully soft lips parted.

He sucked in her breath. He tasted her lips. She felt the air drawn from her lungs. She drank the heat from his mouth in to replace it. For that one moment, that one precious instance in time. Everything was bliss. The two of them were one.

When their lips broke for the fourth time, they both knew it was finished. Hinata was exhausted all over again. The unrestrained emotional release left her shuddering happily. Naruto lay his back against the wall and closed his eyes. Hinata dropped onto her back on the bed and scooched back between his legs resting her head on his chest. Together they lay there in silence for what seemed like hour-long minutes.

Hours or minutes later, Naruto's curious mind got the best of him, and he broke the silence.

"Hinata-chan…?"

"Hmm?" She answered still somewhat stuck in her blissful experience.

Naruto cleared his throat and continued: "Earlier… you rushed up here…eh… you seemed… well…totally upset!"

Hinata flushed as she remembered what happened right outside the door to Naruto's room.

"Well, I was just wondered what was bothering you!" Naruto quickly continued.

Hinata blew out a breath and sighed. She had known this was going to come up sooner or later, but she had hoped later. _It's only fair that I explain myself…He didn't even question me earlier when I showed up…_

"Well…I…um was having…having a really bad day…" She began _Geez, I made such a big deal out of it that I can't possibly get away with a lame excuse like that! Ugh! Well it doesn't matter, Naruto will be proud of me. _ She smiled to herself. _Not like Tsunade, he'll be happy for me._

"Oh…" Naruto replied, _was she upset about this morning? Did I do something she didn't like?_ "I'm sorry if I—"

"Yea! Tsunade—" She blushed. Cutting Naruto off in mid-sentence was beginning to become a talent for her.

"No, no, go on!" Naruto urged, relief sweeping through him that he was not the reason for her bad day.

Hinata nodded her proud smile returning as the impact of what she had accomplished returned.

"Well… you remember…" she trailed off _How could he possible forget?_ "The mission two nights ago?"

Naruto nodded._ How could I forget? That led to…_

"The one with your Team 7 and my team to recover that old man in hopes that we could get information?"

Naruto nodded again and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, I—I felt just awful about how I screwed it all up for everyone…" She glanced up to his eyes signaling him not to interrupt.

"It was my fault that we failed, and so the Leaf's security was at risk. It turns out that the old man we were supposed to secure was the intelligence strategist for the Shadow ninja."

Naruto's eyes widened, but he didn't interrupt her. _The Shadow group is renowned for their ability to enter a battlefield attack, assassinate, and leave having never been seen by anyone. They aren't quite up to Akatsuki level, but still very dangerous in their own right._

"Yeah, we discovered that he was hiding out in that peaceful village in order to evade our ANBU. The old man had obtained a secret document describing the basic defensive weaknesses of Konoha and our attempts to compensate. Well, he memorized the document and destroyed it planning on sharing the information with the Akatsuki (Naruto's mouth dropped open) in return for a first look at all secret or forbidden jutsu scrolls obtained in the Leaf village and protection from the direct attacks when Akatsuki makes their move against all of Japan.

"We were supposed to capture him to find out if he'd made any specific plans already. We had hoped that when we…I… got him killed…that would be the end of it. But just to be safe, Tsunade sent a team of Jonin back to the village to retrieve that single guard that survived. Inoichi worked on him for a bit, but it didn't take long to discover that the old man had had a back-up plan. He wrote his plans down along with some of our defense structures and hid it outside the village he was staying in. Shadow ninja were then supposed to collect it this morning and bring it to their base for safe-keeping in case something happened to the intelligence officer."

Hinata stopped to catch her breath, and Naruto nodded, his eyes still wide as the full importance of the mission became evident.

"I'll get you some water?" he offered.

When she nodded he slipped out from behind her and disappeared into the tiny side-area sectioned off from the rest of the house. He called it a "kitchen" but really it hardly passed for a pantry. She heard the faucet turn on and took the time to order her thoughts. Shortly, Naruto returned with a clear glass of fresh ice-water. She giggled, to Naruto's instant reddening, at the lemon slice, cut and twirled across the edge of the glass.

Hinata took the glass with a smile and a "Thanks." She took a long sip to sooth her dry throat before continuing.

"Well naturally Tsunade decided to build a team to go out and intercept the package before the Shadow ninja could bring it back to their base making it much more difficult to get back…I volunteered."

Naruto nodded approvingly.

"That's awesome!" His face fell. "Oh…but you said that Grandma Tsunade was the cause of your bad day… she… Did she say you couldn't be part of the team Hinata-chan? Cause if she did… That's just STUPID! You're a sensory type ninja. Your Byakugan could find them for SURE!"

Hinata smiled, "No she didn't exactly say I couldn't be part of the team. She said that she needed time to set up the operation and get all the necessary people in place for back up and what not, because it was so important…"

Hinata's eyes looked to be sparkling with something she was dying to tell.

"She did seem awfully worried about running out of time though! After all, the window to intercept them naturally wasn't very large."

The air was tense. _There's still something she hasn't told me. _He chuckled _She's really excited about it, whatever it is._

Hinata turned to Naruto looking directly into his eyes jubilation like glittering stars bursting from her violet pupils.

"N-Naruto-kun…I did it!"

"What?"

"I—I did it! All by myself! I tracked them for ages with Byakugan just like you said! I waited for them, I lured them, I surprised them and I beat them all! Oh I was so scared! And they were really tough, r-really tough, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto stared in shock.

"You…?"

Hinata beamed. She nodded vigorously. "I recovered the document; you'll never guess where it was!"

Naruto was utterly shocked. _She's NEVER attempted a mission on her own. I can't believe that Grandma Tsunade would let her go it alone though. I mean I have faith in her too, but Wow!_

"That's amazing, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata almost cried with joy at his praise. _It's exactly as I hoped! I knew Naruto would be on my side on this one! Oh, this is what I had expected from Tsunade-sama!_ She stood proudly recounting part of the battle with the shadow ninja getting caught up in the play by play.

"—And I was so afraid because I had no back up, and Tsunade didn't know I was out there; so, if I was hurt I'd be in big trouble! But I just kept thinking about what you told me how if I believed in myself and if I trained really—"

"What?" Naruto's eyes sprang open in surprise.

Hinata paused mid-sentence unsure why she had been interrupted.

"Huh?"

As Naruto stared trying to gather his words, Hinata quickly recapped in her mind what she had just said. _I told Naruto about the fight and how afraid I was but that I pulled through thanks to what he taught me…What could he…—Oh no!_

"You went on the mission… without Grandma Tsunade's permission?"

Hinata flushed, but had her defense somewhat ready to counter his objections.

"Well Tsunade-sama was going to put me on the team anyways. When I saw her after the mission, she told me as much. And well I knew we were running out of time and all…"

"Hinata! What you did is illegal! If you were caught, you could have been left behind… maybe nobody would come to save you because you acted as a rogue ninja!"

_No…why is he saying… it's just a stupid technicality! He used to break rules all the time! _

"It…it was a rule that was preventing me from d-doing what I had to do… so I kinda…um… circumvented it. But the important thing is that I succeeded. I recovered the document and the Leaf is safe!"

Naruto really didn't care so much about the rule, it was her safety he had in mind, but he didn't want to seem like he didn't have faith in her.

"Hinata-chan..." He began carefully, "The rule is just there so that nobody goes out and does it alone…"

_It's the same as before… why can't he just be happy for me and leave it at that? _Hinata said nothing she stood there staring at Naruto a scowl on her face.

"I'm not saying taking out those shadow ninja wasn't amazing! And I'm definitely glad you found that document, but Hinata-chan… you really shouldn't have gone alone… you could have gotten hurt… you didn't have any back up…"

Tears of frustration filled Hinata's eyes. It was now evident that Naruto wasn't going to be on her side. He didn't trust in her abilities either. No matter what he said, he didn't think she was capable. He wished she didn't go. _He would rather I stayed home. Tsunade said I accomplished nothing, and now Naruto says I shouldn't have gone._

"Na-naruto!" She was shaking with anger. Naruto had never seen her like this. She looked like she wanted to hit him.

"You just don't understand!" Her voice was pleading now. "I had to do it!"

Naruto glared at her incredulous.

"You ha—"

"To make up for ruining the first mission!" She cried in desperation. "Our first chance at the information slipped through my fingers! I wasn't about to let it happen twice!"

"Hinata… I understand you wanting to—" He began sympathetically.

"Then don't take this away from me!" she begged her voice shrill.

"You could have died…" Naruto replied quietly.

"A ninja can die in ANY mission! It's part of the job!"

"So is following orders!" Naruto cut in his anger building despite his understanding. "So is using your head!"

Hinata was stunned into silent disbelief. _Did he just call me stupid? Everyone is against me… why? I just want…_

"You didn't bring any back up, you didn't tell anyone you were going! If anything had gone wrong, you had no way out and nobody to help you. That was foolish! You're smarter than that!"

Hinata shook her head. She couldn't think. She had done this for him… yes it was to redeem herself. But really she wanted to prove herself to him. She had… how dare he not acknowledge it. He knew exactly what it was like for nobody to pay attention to what he did.

Trembling with anger and emotion Hinata took a step toward Naruto. Then another. With the third step she swept her hand back to slap him. Naruto's anger evaporated. His eyes returned from their glare to a penetrating sadness. He hung his head and his shoulders slumped.

"I could have lost you…"

Of all the things Hinata had expected him to say, this was not on the list. The meaning paralyzed her. Her eyes darted to his.

"It would have been my fault…if…if something had happened…"

"What?" Hinata was completely confused. _It was my choice how..?_

"I encouraged you to push yourself, to do things on your own. You did what I've been telling you to do for ages!" He paused and shook his head.

His eyes glazed over, closed, opened again and drew out her spirit opening her soul as they always seemed to.

"That wonderful moment…we shared earlier…" Hinata cooled some at the memory. "It might never have happened…"

Hinata blinked.

She stood riveted to the ground. The truth of it crashing through her brain. _I could have died…I would have lost Naruto. I never would have kissed him…never would have done what I've been dying to do for so long. What…what did I do this for? Wasn't it for him? I was so quick to prove myself that I didn't stop to think I might get hurt. I might… have ruined my chances of being with Naruto. Might have ended them in a flash… Might have… made Naruto suffer another loss that would break his spirit…_ The thoughts and their implications raced through her mind in rapid succession. _Just yesterday…Naruto spanked me…because I wasn't careful, because I failed to complete my orders, because…I almost did something that could have cost him… me. And the very next day…I did the exact same thing…_

The anger that had been steadily building to a boiling point vanished instantly replaced immediately with regret, shame, and an overwhelming sense of failure. _It's worse… much worse than last time. Last time I didn't know…I…I wasn't aware how much it would hurt Naruto if…Oh god, what have I done? I've got to… to make it up to him. To explain…_

"Naruto-kun" She started quickly, "I—"

"Enough!" He cut her off with one angry command.

Naruto shook his head. Hinata was silent. _Is he going to give up on me? Now?I wouldn't blame him... but please… no, not now!_

Naruto's eyes shone with fierce determination.

"Hinata-chan." He took a step toward and reached out to grip the wrist of the hand she still held in the air to slap him. _Oh! I was so caught up in what he said that I forgot to drop it!_

"You were just disciplined for this yesterday. But it seems the message wasn't clear. You didn't learn anything after all. I hoped… I'm really…"

Hinata sucked in a breath sniffling, cutting him off praying he wouldn't finish it. _Don't say you're disappointed in me… please don't say it…_

"You deserve to be spanked again." It wasn't a question.

Hinata nodded. _And so much more. It's not right for me to ask him to do it again…_

"I want you to go take a shower, you didn't have a chance to between the mission and here, and I'm sure you're dying for it. But more importantly, I want you to take that time to think about this. To think about what you did, and why. And when you're done, you can choose to leave, or you can come ask me for spanking."

Hinata gulped. _Just like before…he won't do it without my permission…_ Hinata nodded and glanced around the room. He pointed to the door behind her to the left.

"Towels are in the cabinet beneath the sink."

He turned and sat down on the bed picking up a stray comic book and flipping through it.

Hinata turned in the direction he'd pointed and after opening the door stepped into the bathroom. _I can't believe I put him in this situation again. I can't believe I did this to him again… I can't believe….. he was worried about me wanting to take a shower_ She desperately tried to suppress a giggle. _Leave it to Naruto, to know exactly what I want and find a way to use it to get me what I need…_ She closed the door and flipped on the light.

She slipped her light jacket off and hung it on a hook on the back of the bathroom door. _Ugh…it's filthy! Must'a been from when Guy-sensei knocked me over… I hope I didn't get Naruto's bed all dirty!_ She unbuttoned and unzipped her navy blue pants, slipped them over her hips, and let them fall to her ankles. Hinata pulled the netting at the top of her shirt up passed the swell of her chest and then crossed her arms her thumb and first two fingers on each hand gripping the bottom of her shirt on opposite sides. She lifted the shirt over her head and folded it neatly setting it on the counter by the sink.

She rested her right hand on the counter and bent down while lifting her left foot to remove the bunched up pants from her ankle. Once complete she swapped hands holding the counter for balance as she slipped the mass of material from her left foot before folding them and laying them atop the shirt. _Better hurry I don't wanna keep him waiting too long…_ Hinata quickly reached back and unhooked her bra, slipped the straps from her shoulders and dropped it on top of the pants. She drew her finger gingerly over the line under her breast the bra had left. She scowled at the bra, before slipping her thumbs into her panties on either side of her hips. _Every bra I have is way too tight. But then again the next size up is "Tsunade" and god knows I'm not THAT big…_

Hinata tugged her panties over her hips and down her thighs before slipping them off her ankles and adding that too to the pile on the counter. _Ugh, I forgot to turn the water on while I was undressing… now it's going to be cold._ She sighed as she turned the nozzle on the shower wall counter-clockwise to hot. She lifted her hand to the water as she stepped into the shower and was surprised to find it already warm.

A pull of a curtain and she was locked in her private corner to think before her spanking. She rolled her eyes as it occurred to her that the shower was literally in the corner of the room. As Hinata reached for the soap, she thought. _He said "or you can come ask me for a spanking." Like I might not do it. _She lathered the soap up in her hands and grabbed a dry wash cloth hanging over the curtain rod. As she washed herself, she began to wonder, _What would happen if I just left? Would that be the end of us?_ She stopped to lather up more soap and scrub her left thigh._ Would he lose faith in me?_ She imagined a few scenarios dismissing them all as preposterous. _Naruto is hard to predict though… I don't know what he'd do._

Hinata rinsed out the cloth satisfied that her body was thoroughly clean and hung it over the curtain rod to dry a bit before she would toss it in the hamper when she got out of the shower. She spent a few moments thoroughly wetting her hair before squeezing some shampoo from a bottle into her palm and massaging it into her scalp and throughout her hair.

Several minutes later, satisfied that her hair was taken care of she turned the nozzle back to 'off' and stepped out of the shower onto a soft mat. An opened cabinet revealed several big soft towels. _Hot orange?_ She snickered as she wrapped one around her hair and another around her waist. _Only Naruto._ Hinata squeezed out the remaining water from the wash cloth and tossed it into the open hamper by the wall and replaced the shower's curtain. After a moment, she dried her body off as best she could and unwrapped her hair. She did her best to dry it and tossed the towel over the curtain rod. Glancing around the sink, she discovered a fancy looking brush and wondering where he'd gotten it from, began to brush the length of her hair as quickly as possible without tearing it. _Ugh this is taking longer than it should have. Naruto! I'm sorry to keep you waiting!_

Finally finished, she stood wondering what to wear. It didn't make sense to put on her dirty clothes…but she hadn't brought any spare either. Her eyes came to rest on a white bathrobe made of a towel-like material. _That'll have to do. Maybe Naruto can wash my clothes later._ She decided to leave them on the counter and took the robe from the hook and slipped her arms into the sleeves. She pulled the robe closed and tied it loosely. Satisfied she was finished; she darted for the door, but just as she turned the handle, a thought struck her and she rushed back for the hairbrush to ask Naruto about it…and maybe with another thought in mind.

Hinata hastily opened the door and walked down the short hall to Naruto's bedroom. The warm water and clean feeling had done much to lift her spirits, but now the shame and the fear of what was waiting for her came rushing back.

She found Naruto in the same place she had left him, scanning the pages of a comic book. He didn't look up when he heard her leave the bathroom. He had promised her she could leave without a word if she wanted and apparently he meant to keep that promise. _Or…_ The rest of the words played through Hinata's mind.

As she approached his bedside, she pulled the robe's belt a little tighter.

She took a deep breath and gathered her courage.

"Um…" If Naruto noticed he pretended not to.

She cleared her throat. "Na—Na—Naruto?"

Finally he glanced up at her. _He's still angry…_ "Yes, Hinata-chan, what is it?"

Hinata's cheeks flushed she curled her toes deeply into the carpet.

"Um… will you…will…will you s-spank me…" She looked him directly in the eye. "Please?"

She was surprised at how much easier it was to ask, knowing that he would accept and not think she were insane like the first time. It was still embarrassing…_ha that was an understatement! _But she knew he would agree because he cared about her so the fearful anticipation wasn't quite as bad.

Naruto returned her solemn gaze for a moment and then nodded. With that ascent, all of Hinata's memories of the terrible pain from the previous night flooded back. She realized that fear of him thinking she was crazy had lessened, but the fear of the actual punishment had increased! She remembered the burn, the slow building of the pain. Her stomach twisted in knots. Naruto didn't intend for her to have to wait any longer however. He set the comic book aside and scooched up to the edge of the bed. His feet settled solidly to the floor, he sat up straight, his eyes unwavering.

He patted his right thigh and she obediently approached. When she arrived, he reached up and untied the belt holding her robe together. To his great surprise when he pulled the robe open, _She's not wearing anything at all! _Naruto looked up at her in surprise. Hinata suddenly understood that he was wondering why she wasn't wearing her underwear beneath the robe.

"I…I…I didn't really see a p-point in wearing panties when I…um wouldn't h-have let you start until I pulled them down!" She quickly answered.

Naruto successfully held back his smile, but the sparkle in his eyes told her he found it amusing.

"And…well… s-since you slept in the sa..same bed as me when I was…I was…" A deeper red blossomed across her cheeks, "Like this…" She gestured to the front of her robe Naruto was still holding open, though his eyes were securely locked on Hinata's. "I didn't think it would matter… very much…" _Oh… am I wrong? Is this inappropriate? _The twinkle resurfaced in Naruto's eye though he didn't smile. _He's still really upset…_

Naruto smirked a little and nodded. "It's alright then, I was just surprised, that's….that's all."

She took a deep breath and shrugged the robe off of her shoulders. It fell to the floor revealing her entire form all at once. Even angry, her exquisite figure took his breath away. Hinata blushed self-consciously. She shivered as water droplets in her hair coalesced into rivulets around her neck slowly venturing outward picking up moisture from her skin along the way and joining into minute streams that slipped between her breasts. His heart seemed to stop for a moment as he tried mightily to focus only on what his task was. Every curve of her body seemed to gleam behind an aura of freshly vaporized steam. She clasped her hands anxiously above her waist tapping the tips of her index fingers: an old nervous habit that in this setting highlighted her innocence as she lowered her eyes. Her naivety, however, only served to add to the purity of her beauty. Even as she shyly turned a little to the left, her right leg slipping in front of her left, her thick nearly saturated locks streamed over her right shoulder drawing Naruto's eyes with their luscious sheen. The dark deluge naturally accentuated the creamy skin of her back and the soft but prominent curve of her hip. His eyes followed the contours of her hip along the contrasting lines of her hair as they gave way to her curvaceous bottom and supple thighs finally reminding him of the reason he had been granted this divine exhibition.

Hinata trembled as the robe slipped off her shoulders and hit the floor. She stood before him, so utterly naked. She had known she would be… _I've been naked with him before… it-it should be okay, right? Calm down…_ She realized this was different though. _The first time I was half asleep, exhausted and under a blanket… this morning I had a blanket partially draped over me too…and …_She swallowed a lump in her throat. _I wasn't being punished!_ This naked felt different; It felt exposed; it felt unprotected; it didn't feel quite right. _But it's too late now…_

She carefully leaned down and pulled herself across Naruto's lap, trying to balance as best she could. Naruto's left arm quickly and tightly circled her lower back locking her in place. His right knee lifted raising her bottom higher into position. He raised his hand, anger still pulsing through him. He took a deep breath half way into bringing his hand down full-force when he suddenly felt her terrified shaking and stopped mid-flight. She was afraid…something was wrong. Very wrong.

With a flash of revulsion he realized it was himself. He was angry… he shouldn't… couldn't punish her because he was angry. It had to be for positive reasons… It had to be for her… this was wrong. Shame rushed into his heart where anger had been only moments ago. His hand finished the downward path, but instead of a slap he rested it lightly on the curve of her right cheek.

"Hinata-chan…" He whispered.

"Y-y-yes?" She managed to squeak out.

"Please just listen for a moment." He closed his eyes. He loosened his grip around her waist.

"I did something wrong too…" his voice defeated, sad.

"Wh—?" Hinata began.

"Please just listen."

He watched her head nod from the left side of his lap.

"I want you to know that I'm doing this because I love you…" He paused, took a deep breath and continued. "Not because I'm angry… I was angry, and I thought you needed to be punished again, and you do… but I have no right to spank you like this… spank you in anger. It's wrong. I'm sorry." He hung his head.

Hinata waited, not wanting to interrupt again. But finally she replied, "It's alright…Na-Naruto-kun. I deserve it."

"No!" He retorted quickly, "No you don't." His right hand slowly massaged the curve of her bottom lightly turning over her outer thigh. "You only deserved to be punished lovingly by someone who cares about you. And I do! I just wanted you to know that… before... before we start. I'm not mad at you, not anymore, not at all. I was afraid that you could have gotten hurt… but it didn't give me the right…" _She's stopped shaking. She's calm… accepting…She understands… she knew too that something was wrong._

"Thank you…Naruto…I—I feel better now… it feels… more right."

Naruto nodded even though she couldn't see it. He caressed her bottom for a few more minutes allowing her to relax.

"Are you comfortable?"

_What a question to ask someone about to have their bottom lit on fire!_ She thought. But then she noticed she wasn't trembling, her body was calm and prepared for the punishment she'd earned…relaxed. "Yes… I'm alright."

"Good." He took a deep breath. "Why are you being punished, Dear?"

_Dear!_ The term made her heart flutter, but she knew she had to keep her mind to what he asked.

"Because I didn't wait for Tsunade-sama's orders…" Naruto was about to break in with an 'and?' when she continued, "And because I did something foolish… to go after them alone… which could have had….bad results…" She paused again, but Naruto waited for her. He couldn't see, but she smiled even as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"And… be-because you c-care about me… because I w-worried you…I could have carelessly hurt myself… and one more…"

Naruto frowned in confused surprise, but let her go on.

"Please… please spank me because… I…I could have cost you another friend… and … and you don't deserve that…"

Naruto beamed. _She did understand. Everything yesterday wasn't for nothing… She just had a lapse of judgment, like anyone can._ He sighed with relief and squeezed her upper thigh just below her right cheek.

"Yes, that's exactly right. I'm glad you understand." His tone conveyed that he really meant it.

A light-heartedness filled Hinata's soul. Suddenly, being naked over his lap seemed like the most natural thing in the world. _He loves me… and I earned this. He's just helping me to remember in the future…_ _Oh!_

She jumped up. Since Naruto had loosened his hold around her, she easily slipped off his lap. She rushed over to the robe and reached into its pocket. Naruto was surprised to see the bathroom hair brush.

"I found this in the bathroom… and I thought… um well I don't know where you got it, but well…I…um… I kinda thought… I deserved a little bit of a harsher… spanking since I made the same mistake…"

"It was my mother's… it's the only thing I have left of hers…"

_Oi!_ "Oh! I didn't know! I'll go put it right back!"

She turned and rushed toward the bathroom before his voice stopped her.

"Hinata…It's alright… I think that will do just fine."

Her face turned the color of a cherry, but she was pleased that he wasn't upset, and further that he agreed. Though… she wondered now… how much more it would hurt….

The walk back seemed to take much longer. Her heart was fluttering in anxious anticipation. _Oh… this is going to hurt… Why did I suggest…_With a sigh she returned to his side.

Naruto almost laughed as she scampered back to his side, eager to get on with it, eager to make things right again. _I can't wait for things to be finished too. I already miss that kiss this morning… I hate having anything between us._ Hinata looked down at him her eyes questioning. For a moment, He looked her over. She felt his eyes travel up her body lingering just a moment longer on the pale, strawberry-tipped silk of her breasts then the rest, before catching himself and shooting his gaze to hers.

Hinata blushed at the warm smile slipping onto his lips and the insecure lust prominent in the spark of his eyes. _"Beautiful"_ She remembered him calling her just last night. _There's no reason to be ashamed. _She couldn't stop her knees from shaking slightly, but she hoped he wouldn't notice. _Oh my god! He…_ Her cheeks burned ever brighter, and she was unable to suppress a giggle as Naruto apparently unconsciously licked his lips.

"Huh? What's so funny?" He asked his left eyebrow rising slightly.

_Apparently he really didn't do that on purpose. But…I—I suppose that makes it even better... _She grinned again.

"Er…is everything…al-alright?" Naruto stuttered suddenly very self-conscious. _Ugh, she must have caught me looking at her chest! Geez__!_ He slapped his forehead about to apologize when she cut into his thoughts shaking her head:

"No, it's okay, Naruto-kun." She paused, that awkward smile that she always held in reserve just for him, the one that always infected him and made him want to smile too remained on her face. "I'm ready."

Not trusting his voice, Naruto nodded and readjusted his position. A sudden warm pressure of his hand on her bottom signaled Hinata to lie across his lap. As she leaned forward, his right hand slipped under the curve of her bottom and helped her to more easily climb into position. His left arm slipped under her breasts supporting her torso and stabilizing her somewhat precariously balanced weight. Naruto spread his knees slightly to make her more comfortable and lifted his right thigh slightly raising her bottom above the rest of her body. She remembered this technique from the previous time. _Not only does it make my poor bottom a better target… but it feels…so—so exposed! So—so unprotected!_ She whined to herself. Naruto drew her closer to his waist to further stabilize her, he knew she would squirm. _The way he holds me… the way he draws me against him... it feels more like an embrace… like he's cradling me than that he's about to…!_

His palm was suddenly resting on the lower curve of her right cheek. Energy rippled from his touch shooting from her hypersensitive skin to her brain in an instant. Naruto slowly drew his hand outward in a counter-clockwise arc across her outer thigh, over the intersection of her lower back and upper cheek, and paused at the cleft between the two identical pillowy mounds.

Naruto smiled enjoying the fresh, shower-heated curve and the soft, firm feel of her rear end. He slowly dragged the tip of his index finger over the dip between her cheeks. It was taking every bit of Hinata's self-control not to jump as his finger's feather touch tickled the nerve endings between her cheeks. She could almost see the smirk on his face as she sucked in a deep breath in response. His finger stopped level with her upper thighs and curved again outward across her silky, air-dried, left cheek. His fingers merged and pressed lightly in their journey over the luscious curve of her left thigh and back to the intersection of her cheeks at the base of her spine. Again his index finger tickled her cleft pausing again just a hair lower than before.

She gasped loudly when his finger dipped between her cheeks. It slid down an inch and he waited to see if she would object. She didn't. Naruto's finger wiggled down further until the shallow crevice ended. Hinata tensed suddenly when his finger hit this barrier. He waited a moment to let her calm. He decided if she clenched her bottom he would withdraw. _ I don't want to push her too far… _After several seconds, her breathing returned to normal. She relaxed again and slowly her muscles released their tension. Naruto waited a few moments more to make sure she was alright, and then slowly slipped his finger up her cleft.

Hinata had gasped as his finger slipped deep between her cheeks. She tried to control her breathing. She was nervous, but she didn't want him to stop, and she knew he would at the first sign of her being uncomfortable. Her entire rear end was buzzing with electricity, every touch he made zapped through her like a lightning bolt sapping some of that nervous energy. Hinata closed her eyes trying to picture what he was doing to her. In her mind's eye, she watched his finger slowly drive up the depression between her cheeks. As he neared the center, she held her breath. _Oh, please….don't stop…_ Adrenaline built in her blood, sweeping through her veins as he continued. The moment his fingertip brushed over her rose-bud the pent-up energy released like thunder as she literally jumped two or three inches in his lap. His finger quickly continued on its way until it slipped out at the base of her spine. _I—I—I've… n-never been touched…there...be-before!_ _It feels… awkward… no… not awkward…invasive… but not in a bad way! Hm…it feels good! _

While she continued to play word games with herself, Naruto still chuckling at her reaction to his touch, lifted his finger to his lips coating it with a thin layer of saliva. He replaced his finger at the base of her spine and slipped again between her cheeks, sinking down to the familiar barrier. Though, his slick finger met much less resistance this time, he deliberately moved slowly between her cheeks. When he reached the tender bud, he traced its tight ring snickering as she jumped again though less abruptly before continuing on. Naruto did his best to keep his hand from shaking. He was surprised she hadn't objected to his wiggling finger. He knew it was an invasion of private space, and he was terrified she'd be upset or tell him to stop. But… sitting there with her soft thighs and creamy skin, her exquisite weight pressing down on his own thighs… he couldn't help but want to touch her. _And_ He justified to himself: _It'll help release some of her nervous energy, which will make it easier when the punishment begins._

He was abruptly drawn from his thoughts when he suddenly felt her cheeks clench around his finger, her body had tensed, then released, almost apologetically. He realized his finger had bordered her intimate folds. She probably wouldn't stop him if he continued, but she was a little scared. She wasn't ready. _That's alright, I'm not either…I didn't mean for my finger to slip that far!_ Naruto's immediately stopped his finger and slipped it back the opposite direction. As Hinata eased into an untensed state again, Naruto drew his finger slowly out of the depression even as it slipped up the crevice. The moment his finger slipped the grasp of the two cheeks, he let his hand lay flat as it caressed her cheek.

Naruto let his hand glide back to her right cheek where he squeezed lightly and patted both her cheeks letting her know he was ready to begin. Instantly, the anxious tension blanketed her bottom. Naruto had helped Hinata release a huge amount of adrenaline build up, but he couldn't make all her fear vanish.

Hinata's left hand twisted behind her back and lifted the ornate wooden brush up to him. Naruto, smiled softly and took it. He curled his left arm around her chest under her breasts a bit more tightly to hold her in place. He took a deep breath and slipped the brush into his left hand holding it away from her side. Hinata was holding her breath, He knew in the beginning the wait seemed to be by far the worst part.

In rapid succession, Naruto lifted his right hand and brought it crashing down twice on the center of her left cheek. He immediately followed up with a quick, but lighter slap to her right outer thigh and finished off the first string or spanks with a harsh side-swinging slap that collided with the joint between her lower bottom and right thigh with such force that the entire cheek lifted for a moment before quaking to a halt. Naruto let his hand sink into her tender skin after the last spank, pressing the pain down deeply. He tensed his left arm in preparation.

Hinata's eyes widened at the first smack as her synapses fired the lightning strike of pain through her bottom and in a fraction of a second transferred the message to her brain. She opened her mouth to cry out but only gasped as his hand slapped different sections of her bottom and once on her thigh. Just as she finally managed to catch her breath, a last spank crashed into the junction between her lower right cheek and thigh with such force that it seemed to almost lift her from his lap. The pain sizzled through her driving the air from lungs once more. A moment later, a burning handprint radiated a fiery sting.

"Ouuuch!" Hinata finally managed to cry out.

Her brows drew together as her face scrunched up, her eyes tightly shut. She'd been expecting the brush. _He knew I'd be waiting for the brush! He purposely didn't start with it to surprise me and make it seem harsher than it was! Ugh it worked too! She could feel the shape of each hand-print on her skin. _The hairbrush might hurt more, but she hadn't been prepared for the wide-area coverage of his open hand!

Hinata's cry twinged in Naruto's heart. His urge to comfort her, to rub those angry red hand-prints was overwhelming, but he fought it off. _She needs this. She asked for this…literally. I can't fail her now!_ He flicked his left wrist and caught the hairbrush with his right hand. _She'll be expecting another round of hand-spanks._ His lips pressed tightly together in grim determination. He turned the brush in his hand the bristles facing up the solid wooden oval opposite.

His arm lifted, the brush parallel to her body fell swiftly and severely twice on the apex of her right cheek. The narrow oval sunk deeply into the pillowy section of her bottom; the surrounding flesh bulged, rippled and reformed leaving a crimson-shaded ellipse in its place. The second bit into the inside of the same cheek tearing it away from her left and branding a second oval overlapping the first.

"Ooooo! Owww! Ouch!" Hinata shouted shrilly her legs jerking slightly with each touch of the brush.

Not only had she been expecting hand-spanks, but whatever mental preparation she had made for the pain was light years away from the reality! While the hand-spanks had left a stinging heat, the brush had left a tingling inferno!

_Test results: _Naruto thought. _1. As expected, the brush hurts a lot more than my hand, 2. The brush isn't quite as precise as my hand was, those two were supposed to be in the exact same spot, 3. By her cries, Hinata won't hold out nearly as long as she did in yesterday's spanking._ He gently rubbed the cold wood over the marks a moment and then lightly patted her right buttock's lower bottom. Then turning it perpendicular to her body, he whipped the brush down three times rapidly on the back of Hinata's left thigh just below her bottom. She answered instantly with a piercing shriek as her body jerked forward. Naruto winced at her scream, but quickly followed up with a harsh spank to her right thigh also just below her cheek followed by two almost exactly overlapping cracks into her inner left cheek. The punishing wood's burn reached into the cleft between the cheeks just before the mounds of flesh smacked back together.

Hinata screamed again, loudly. She didn't care if Naruto heard her repentant cries; that's what he was there for. Her right thigh pulsed with agony from the kiss of the brush. Just as she recovered her breath from the cry, Naruto had seen fit to send the brush's tortuous blaze into that private space he had so carefully drawn his finger through just moments ago. The brush was pain like she had never felt before. She cried out again as tears suddenly filled her eyes and flew through the air as she jolted upward in response to the last slap.

Naruto noticed that her thighs had separated a bit more as Hinata tried to keep her inner cheeks from touching. Deciding to use it to his advantage, he shifted his right knee and shoulder forward slightly, and, dropping the brush into his open left palm, quickly brought his right hand fingers pointed in down twice on the lower curve of her right cheek. Upon impact, his fingers sprung forward switching her exposed inner thigh. Hinata yelped and jammed her thighs together only to press her sore inner thigh and left cheek's cleft into its mate instantly compounding the burn. She let out another yelp and wrenched them apart. The whole transaction gave Naruto a chance to swap back to the brush just as her thighs once again parted.

He immediately brought a full swing of the cruel brush into her inner left thigh once a few inches above her knee and again harder to stretch parallel from the southernmost part of her bottom. The firebomb of torment forced a hoarse screech from Hinata's lungs. She finally succumbed to defeat and broke into a string of frustrated sobs. _It doesn't matter which way I twist or pull; He's going to punish me as hard and as long as it takes till he thinks I'll remember this lesson!_

His spirit was strong, but it crippled him to hear her agonizing cries. The frustration was evident in her misery. It wasn't time to stop yet. The blond ninja whipped the hairbrush around and slammed it with powerful force into the incline just above Hinata's thighs dead center. The force shifted her bottom forward, and Hinata reached out to balance herself, before her rear sprung back into place and Naruto tightened his grip around her chest reassuringly. She screamed again, but chocked half-way through when Naruto whistled the wooden oval through the air and cracked it into an upper section of her left cheek and quickly followed up with two more painting parallel lines below the first. He waited as she coughed and seemed to regain her breath however labored it was. Her cries had settled into a plaintive chorus of unending cries each flowing into the next.

A tiny smile started on Naruto's lips. _The frustration in her crying is gone. She's given in to the punishment. She's allowed herself to be punished for what she did wrong. All that remains is to finish up strongly so she doesn't forget this time. _He dropped the brush into his left hand again, and rested his right hand on her back a moment. Hinata took a deep breath and sobbed loudly, she felt his warm hand lying on her back. It was a sign. She could feel it, his emotions conveyed through touch. _He's proud of me…He...he wants to encourage me to hold on. I must be nearly through! Thank god! I was beginning to think I wouldn't make it through this. That I'd have to beg him to stop!_ She shook her head. _I couldn't do that. I surrendered my will, surrendered myself, my body to Naruto's love. He wouldn't push me passed what I could endure. He wouldn't punish me more than I deserve. I just have to have faith in him… and be strong, be strong for him! I will! I won't let him down!_

Naruto's hand slipped from her back and tenderly glided across the inferno of her rear end. She winced with each touch no matter how light and fell to whimpering in anticipation each time he lifted his hand. He squeezed his fist tight, straining within himself to finish the job, though his heart was bursting with each spank he gave her. Each angry red splotch that his brush painted seemed to split his spirit with her pain. _Almost…Hinata is hanging on for me. I have to hold on for her. To leave it unfinished would be to wrong her… to fail her…to maybe have to do this again…_ He shook his head. His left hand opened.

A muffled bang registered in Hinata's mind though her whimpering. She opened her eyes and tried to locate its source through the torrents of saline pouring from her eyes. When she finally succeeded, her mouth dropped open; eyes widened: on the floor no more than a foot or two from her face lay the hairbrush that was Naruto's only keep-sake from his mother.

Tears of relief pooled in her already wet eyes. That harsh brush wouldn't be falling on her bottom anymore. Her rear was blazing with crimson ovals over-lapping in various places. Her thighs were burning inside and out. It all hurt so badly. It burned! It… wasn't over yet.

Naruto squeezed her chest softly with his left arm. He held her firmly and shifted his knee to lift her bottom up even higher than before. His hand rose and fell on her exposed backside over and over peppering the errant girl's bottom, filling in the few remaining pale spots evening the entire landscape in a scarlet hue, burning the lesson into Hinata's mind. Each spank etched it into her memory a little deeper. Each time his hand made contact she inwardly begged forgiveness for being so foolish. Each time the pain swept through her synapses she promised herself she would never do something to force Naruto to hurt himself and her like this again. Each time his hand lifted and the new hand-print's heat swooped in to join the combined blaze of all before it, she pledged never to forget this lesson.

Hinata's whimpering faded. She laid limp and accepting of her punishment. Naruto sensed her determination, her peace of mind, her will to take as much punishment as he deemed she needed. It was with then that Naruto, knew she had learned everything she needed to. She had forgiven herself. She had determined to be careful and determined to remember. She needed no more correction or punishment.

With tears streaming down his face, Naruto snatched his hand out of the air as it had prepared to strike her again. He slipped his right arm under her legs and tucked her closer to his waist. He leaned over her back and carefully wrapped his right arm around her waist giving her as close to a hug as he could in that position.

Hinata's eyes filled again. With his comforting touch, she knew it was over… At long last… the pain would end. The punishment was finished. She had endured for Naruto. She accomplished something for him. The barrier that had been between them was dissolved. She cried tears of relief but mostly tears of joy. Naruto let her lay there sobbing for a few minutes. He listened to her heart speaking through tears. He quietly rubbed her back drawing his warm hand over her bare skin soothing her shoulders even as her sobs shook them violently.

When he felt she was ready, a bit calmer, he softly ran his hand down her knee. Slipping his hand gently under her it and his other around her lower back, he carefully tilted forward allowing her to slip off his lap and into his supporting arms. She simply sank into his embrace as he pulled her close cradling her against his chest. Whispers of a few quiet sobs still slipped from her lips, but they too faded into silence as he sat on his bed rocking her in his arms.

How long he held her he couldn't tell. Only that the moment the peace had been restored between them was the most profound and joyful moment he could remember. Time seemed meaningless as he held her, caressing her cheek, combing her hair behind her ear. Eventually, despite her exhaustion, she turned in his arms and sat lightly on his lap slipping her arms around his shoulders and burying her head against his chest. He bowed his head and kissed the top of hers through her hair. He felt the need to squeeze her tighter and did so. She lightly poked his shoulder, and when he leaned closer, she turned and whispered a kiss against his ear, her warm breath tickled. A tiny "Thank you…" slipped from her lips as. A tired smile curled her lips when she felt his eyes on her...her body as her soul naked in his arms.

Epilogue

Birds sang their melodies chiming together the morning's embrace. Naruto awoke to find himself and Hinata under a blanket tangled up in each other. The air had a slight chill to it that made him snuggle closer to Hinata and helped him resist the urge to surrender to the sun's wake up call.

He smiled gently, everything had turned out alright. _Hinata is every bit as talented as she wanted me to believe yesterday. I hope I don't even betray her confidence in that. She is every bit as beautiful as I told her, and so much more that there aren't enough words for me to explain it to her. _He smirked. _Not that she would believe it, even if there were!_

He was jolted from his thoughts by a knock on the door. He pressed his eyes shut then turned and squinted at the clock somewhat annoyed: '5:30 A.M.' He rolled his eyes. Who would want him this early? The knock came again: slow but insistent. _Maybe it's important…why else wouldn't they wait until later?_ Naruto as quickly as possible eased out of Hinata's grip and covered her with his side of the blanket. She immediately turned over in her sleep and clutched at the blanket where he had just been. _Hopefully this doesn't take long…_

He scooched over to the edge of the bed and dropped into the slippers he had set there the night before. Glancing around for something to throw on when he answered the door, he discovered the bathrobe Hinata had borrowed the evening before and with a with a lick of his lips slipped it on. He quickly tied it closed as he made his way to the door.

The knock came again, just as he reached for the handle. _Geez, impatient people!_ He unlatched the lock and with a turn of the handle pulled open his front door. There to his utter surprise stood a female ninja in short black shorts and a long red shirt split to her waist on the sides. Sparkling green eyes shown out from a pretty face framed in not quite shoulder-length pink hair that did a pretty good job of covering her slightly larger than normal forehead.

"Sakura?" Naruto whispered. "What are you doing here…and at this hour?"

Sakura's cheeks already tinged a light shade of pink, colored slightly more when she saw he'd answered in just a bathrobe. _Ya, I guess it IS early…_ She thought. _Well…best to just be out with it…I guess…_

"Hi, Naruto." She paused, her cheeks coloring a bit more making Naruto wonder just what the heck was going on.

"Tsunade asked me to come see you this morning." She continued. "She wanted me to tell you that Hinata is not in any trouble. She understood the situation, and as long as Hinata promises not to do anything so foolish again; she will let her off with a warning."

Naruto's eyes widened as he beamed.

"Really? That's great!" For a moment he nearly forgot to whisper. "Thanks a lot, Sakura, Hinata will be thrilled to hear!"

Sakura smiled looking relieved.

"No problem! I'm happy to deliver good news. I should probably get going now. Hospital rounds and all… that's why I'm up so early."

Naruto nodded and turned back toward the open doorway, but just as Sakura started down the stairs, Naruto quickly turned back and grabbed her shirt sleeve.

"Naruto! What are you—!" Sakura began more surprised than angry.

"Sakura-chan… You told me earlier that you had the day off…"

"Oh…" Sakura fumbled quickly for a cover story. "Well you know, hospitals always have extra shifts." She shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner and again turned toward the bottom of the stairs.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto drew out her name to express that he was on to her.

She turned her head half-way. "Yes, what is it?"

"How did you know, Hinata was here, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura froze, but after a minute decided on the truth. Part of it anyways: "Well, Tsunade asked me to find Hinata to discuss something that went wrong on a mission she was on yesterday…and well I saw Hinata in kind of a rush come into the building downstairs… And I guess I just assumed…"

She nodded congratulating herself on a finely woven cover-story.

Naruto wasn't to be denied, however.

"Why didn't you tell her then? Why come so early?"

"Well…"

"Or why didn't Tsunade come here?"

"Naruto! Tsunade doesn't have time to make house calls!" She snatched at the side-detail hoping to end this line of questioning.

"Sakura-chan… you're dodging the question…"

The pink-haired kunoichi blushed.

"I…um…well…I" she stumbled.

"You saw her come in here so you followed her intending to let her know when she left. But she didn't…"

Sakura nodded.

"Right!" She smiled. "Just like you said, no big deal."

"Except that you wouldn't have just left it at that…" Naruto interrupted. "Grandma Tsunade gives you, her apprentice, a mission and you just let it go because it was taking too long? I don't buy it."

Sakura couldn't think of a suitable explanation; so she just huffed.

Naruto plunged on.

"I think you DIDN'T let it go…after a while when she didn't come out, you followed up the stairs, but you didn't ask to come in… did you?"

Sakura flushed a violent shade of crimson.

"N—No!" She stuttered.

"And why is that?"

Sakura sighed. Naruto had backed her into a corner; there was no point in hiding it now.

"Naruto…I came up to talk to Hinata…and accidentally overheard part of your argument with her. I didn't wanna come in then because it would have been awkward. So I figured I would wait until she got out of the shower and then hopefully find an opportunity when things calmed down to give her the message."

Naruto smiled, but felt his cheeks color a little as well.

"Well…after she got out of the shower…" Sakura plunged on. "Well… I waited for a moment…but… things got… well rather personal. " Sakura paused a moment her cheeks still scarlet. "I waited long enough to make sure that it wasn't a fight… it was…well…you know… and anyways I didn't see myself interrupting THAT!"

Naruto chuckled softly. "Ya…I imagine not."

"So I went back to Tsunade-sama and told'er I couldn't deliver the message, and naturally she pressed for the reason why… and eventually I caved and told her even though I was SO embarrassed to!"

Naruto's eyes went wide. "You told her!"

"Yes!" Sakura's tone turned defensive. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Ugh…"

Sakura shook her head, "It's not that bad…Tsunade-sama actually kinda laughed a bit and said it was 'Just what Hinata needed…from just who she needed it!'"

Naruto blushed more openly.

"Well…anyway…she seemed to think that Hinata was being…er…um…punished enough…and so…she decided to drop the whole issue so long as Hinata promised never to do it again."

Naruto was astonished. "Well…I guess that's good…" He paused for a moment unsure what to say. Then a thought suddenly struck him: "You didn't tell Ino did you?"

"No!" Sakura assured him as quietly and vehemently as she could. "I didn't tell anyone! And I'm not going to! Why do you think I came so early? I was hoping you'd answer and she wouldn't have to know the WHOLE story!"

"And Grandma Tsunade wouldn't tell anyone… right?"

"Not unless she's drunk…" Sakura replied rolling her eyes.

"Ugh…right. Well...alright then. Um…please…just…keep it to yourself… I think Hinata would be mortified! And well… her self-confidence was never very high…" 

"Of course I wouldn't!" Sakura retorted indignantly. "Hinata's my friend too!"

Naruto nodded and turned toward the door.

"Oh, Naruto?" Sakura shot back from over his shoulder.

"What?"

"You had better not hurt her…with the way she trusts you… she would never get over it… do you understand me? If you hurt her, I'll kick your ass!"

Naruto smiled. "Don't worry… I have no intention of hurting someone I love so much."

Sakura returned his smile. "Good… Also… I…um…" She slipped a small brown canvas bag from her shoulder and handed it to Naruto.

He looked at her questioningly.

"It's for Hinata…um…for her today…to…help her…er…recover…I thought I'd give you something a little stronger than you get at the usual ninja supply store. Since I'm practically a doctor…and an apprentice to Tsunade-sama…I can get access to better quality…pain-relievers, creams, and what-not…"

Naruto chuckled at his friend's embarrassment. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. I'm sure Hinata will be grateful."

"No, no! Don't tell her you got it from me!" Sakura quickly returned.

"I wasn't planning on it." Naruto frowned.

"Oh…right…good….um…don't!"

"Well…I'll see you around then!"

"Definitely! Take care of her!"

And with that Sakura saw herself out of the building.

Naruto closed and latched the door, the color finally fading from his face. He stopped in the bathroom and slipped the small brown bottle with a large green leaf emblazoned on the side from the bag. It had some fancy chemical-name, no brand. He laid it gently on shelf in the medicine cabinet and tossed out the bag.

As he slipped back into bed beside Hinata, and her arms instinctively found their way around him, two thoughts simultaneously slipped through his mind.

_ Eventually, Hinata is going to find out about this… but for now, I'll spare her the embarrassment._

_ I'd better start stocking up on these pain-relief creams…if being with Hinata is anything like the first two days…I'm gonna need a fresh supply every week!"_

**Ending Note: Okay, that's the end, but I hope you enjoyed the story. I fervently appreciate those who left reviews on my first story, and I would love to get some feedback on this one as well. Please feel free to say what's on your mind, I love reading other people's thoughts. Thank you to all who read this story, for your time, and to those who leave reviews thank you in advance!**

**~Ifulna**


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